The Pennington Files: Murder on the Excess Express
by Cascore-Wimpzilla
Summary: A lighthearted, innocent trip on the Excess Express. An unexpected death that takes place within mere hours after departure. There is only one person who can solve such a dastardly crime before three days are up. And his name is not Pennington.
1. Day One: Thursday Afternoon

**Hey there everyone! This is Cascore.**

_And I'm Wimpzilla!_

**And this is a little joint project we like to call "The Pennington Files". We've been working on this Murder mystery for some time.**

_And it's finally ready, so sit back, relax, and put your sluething skills to the test._

* * *

**"Day One – Thursday Afternoon"**

"_Bro, you're never going to believe this! You know that job I got serving drinks on the Excess Express Casino last week? Well, I already got promoted! I'm a card dealer now, and it's a whole lot of fun Bro! I get to meet people face to face and chat with them while we play games, and I get paid for it! How great is that!? I hope you can come out and visit me with everyone sometime soon. Maybe we can play a game of poker or two while you're here!"_

_-Luigi_

Mario read the excited letter over again with a smile as the boat from Toad Town finally pulled into Rogueport. Three days after initially discovering the message in his mailbox, Mario was able to gather together Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Toadsworth for a leisurely trip aboard the Excess Express.

Daisy and Yoshi found themselves hurrying ahead of the main group, Daisy obviously excited about being able to see Luigi again and Yoshi eager to check out the rumored fanciest train in the world. Even Peach seemed to press onward at a bit of a faster pace, giggling girlishly as Toadsworth asked her why she was in such a rush to get to the train. Peach knew she was expected to act more civil about the situation, being the calmer of the princesses and having grown accustomed to the fancy things in life. She simply couldn't help it though. Like Yoshi, she wanted to look around the world famous train for herself, and she playfully urged Toadsworth to hurry his old bones up.

This left Mario behind as the only one to walk at a leisurely pace. Having already been on the Excess Express in the past, he generally knew what to expect as it was, even with the recent addition of four extra cars to the train. Sure, he was excited to see his brother, but it'd been quite some time since he was last in Rogueport itself. He wanted to see if anything changed much in town at all.

He couldn't get very far before he spotted a familiar face though. Directly to his left, in the town's community flower garden, Mario was able to spot an old Toadstool friend of his, gazing into the flowing fountain with eyes that seemed to be staring hundreds of miles away. He was dressed in a formal black vest with a grey button up shirt underneath and a red bow tie place neatly underneath his chin.

Mario approached Toad from the side and tossed him a friendly wave, catching his eye and causing him to snap out of his trance-like state. Toad turned to Mario with a bright smile and waved in return.

"Hey there Mario, what are you doing around here?" Toad asked as Mario joined him next to the fountain, looking into it alongside him.

"Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Toadsworth and I came out here to visit Luigi," Mario answered. "He just got a job at the Excess Express Casino last week and already got a promotion."

"Heh, yeah, he's a card dealer already," Toad spoke up, catching Mario off guard for a moment before he remembered that Toad worked at the casino serving drinks for several months now. Mario was wondering why he was dressed in such formal attire. He'd have to be on board the Excess Express in just a few minutes himself. "I'm happy for him," Toad added before looking off in the general direction of the train station. Figuring it was about time he checked in for work, he gave his farewells to Mario and promised they would see each other on the train. Mario waved him goodbye and soon began his stroll once again.

Unfortunately for him, there didn't seem to be very many differences around that part of town. The only thing that changed around the place was the noticeable removal of the Lucky Happy Lottery billboard and the giant, endlessly jolly Bob-Omb that used to accompany it. Mario couldn't help but wonder just why it was gone, but he soon found himself being tackled to the ground by a floating, spherical force.

"MARIOOO!!!" the force's high-pitched voice shrieked with glee as the red plumber soon felt a pair of small arms hug around his neck. "It's been so long since I've seen you last! How are you!?"

He'd be better if he weren't being choked to death by some unknown entity.

Struggling to remove whoever was grabbing on to his neck, Mario had a moment to breathe again as he got back to his feet and was allowed to observe whoever it was that greeted him so violently. And he found that his assailant was none other than Lady Bow, floating before her with a bright smile, her usual pair of bows on either side of her hand, and her handy feathery fan that she used to cool herself down after the minor episode.

"Hi there Bow," Mario greeted in return with a smile that mirrored his old friend's. "Never expected to run into you out here."

"Of course I'm out here in Rogueport, my little sisters _do_ live here after all," Bow informed, her mood suddenly turning quite sour as she folded her arms in a little huff. "My little sisters who live here and just got laid off by their idiot boss."

Mario could only wager a guess that Bow was referring to Peeka and Lahla, the only two Boos who actually resided in Rogueport and worked at Don Pianta's Game Plaza and item shop. He was quite surprised that he never noticed the family resemblance before, the three Boos looked very much alike.

"Can you believe it Mario?" Bow asked, turning to glare at the Game Plaza that rested a short distance away. "_My_ fantastically cute and endlessly wonderful little sisters were actually laid off. Who does this Don Pianta think he is?"

"Why would he lay them off?" Mario asked, causing Bow to scoff.

"Hmph, I don't know," Bow answered, "But he's going to have to deal with me now. I hear he's heading off to Poshley Heights on the Excess Express today. I was planning to go there myself anyway, so I may as well kill two birds with one stone and have a little chat with the guy during the trip."

"Oh, I'm taking the Excess Express today too," Mario informed, causing Bow's eyes to brighten immediately as she whipped around and shined her biggest, brightest smile to Mario.

"That's absolutely delightful!" she exclaimed genuinely. "Well, maybe this trip won't be so excruciating after all with you around! We have to get together on the train sometime and catch up!" Bow immediately turned back away from Mario, her eyes glaring at the engine of the Excess Express as she held her fan in front of her mouth. "_After_ I have a little chat with this Don Pianta fellow of course. I'll see you on the train Mario," she confirmed shortly before disappearing into thin air as Boos did so very often.

Mario took a moment to readjust his disheveled cap with a smile and decided there wasn't very much more to see around the town. It was just as well, because from the distance he heard the conductor bellow his second-to-final warning.

"ALL ABOARD!" The conductor shouted with impressive gusto, "ALL ABOARD THE EXCESS EXPRESS!"

Mario walked the short distance to the station, flashed his ticket, and boarded the train. He felt the slightest twinge of excitement in wondering if the interior had changed. With the inclusion of the Casino his brother was card dealing in, the entire train could have been renovated. First impressions were slightly disappointing, the interior was no different than he'd remembered so far. Car after car still had the same differing color schemes and held a cabin or two each. The restaurant in the center of the train remained the same as well, with the very same employees working in the same positions. The only difference now was the crew of familiar faces occupying its tables.

Mario first noticed the table at which the airy waitress was speaking with a group of three diners: one dressed in a formal black vest, a long sleeved white shirt, and a yellow bow tie, looking remarkably similar to Toad, if Toad were an obese human with a long "W" mustache. The man sitting opposite him was quite lanky and dressed in black suspenders over a purple long sleeved shirt, and next to him sat a Beanish fellow whose eyes were covered with a purple sash and wore black pants with a purple striped shirt resting over his torso. Mario didn't need very long to identify all three of them: Wario, Waluigi, and Popple, one group of cons that proved that birds of a feather really did fly together.

Well, maybe that was unfair to say. Luigi informed Mario that Wario was actually working at the casino as well, as the teller no less. He'd managed to keep the job for a few months now, so maybe he'd changed his ways. Waluigi and Popple looked quite rough however. Judging by their dirtied clothes, Waluigi's incoming five o' clock shadow, and their general look of disdain about being on that train at all, Mario wondered just why they were there in the first place.

"Hey! Mario! Over here!" Luigi's familiar, jolly voice rang out across the restaurant, causing most everyone in the car to turn their attention to the plumber almost simultaneously. Without realizing just how many pairs of eyes were on him, Mario made his way over to the long table at which his brother sat, along with Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Toadsworth. Mario expected to see Toad there as well, but he simply figured that the guy was off getting ready for work, very much the opposite of what Wario and Luigi seemed to be doing at the moment.

Just like Wario, Luigi wore a formal black vest with a long sleeved white shirt underneath, only his bow tie was green. And, as Mario took a seat at the table, Luigi made it a point to express how much he liked his work attire.

"What do you think bro?" Luigi asked, standing up and getting into over-the-top poses for the rest of the table. "I love being able to dress up for work every day. It makes me feel spiffy."

"I must say Master Luigi, you do look sharp as a tack in that suit," Toadsworth complimented, prompting a smile from Luigi and a nod of agreement from everyone else at the table.

"Yeah, talk about sexy," Daisy added, stroking Luigi's arm softly as he sat down once more, a slight blush coming to his cheeks. "I think I'll have to be at the card table every night just so I can see you in that."

Luigi couldn't help but chuckle nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed that Daisy would say such a thing right in front of everyone like that. Of course, he was pretty used to it by that point considering Daisy wasn't shy about openly flirting, but still, it never failed to make Luigi's heart race.

"So did you guys see your rooms?" Luigi asked the group. Only Yoshi nodded in response.

"That's the first thing I went to see!" Yoshi announced happily, "It's no wonder they call this the hotel that runs on land! Everything is so fancy!"

"I've never heard that before, but I guess it makes sense." Luigi commented. Soon everyone was discussing other things along with the train, keeping Luigi up to date of what was happening at home and hearing Luigi's experiences as a card dealer. After several minutes of hearty conversation the waitress made her way over to the group and began to take down orders. As she finished up, Luigi insisted that he wouldn't be having anything to eat, for he had to get to the casino floor and prepare his station before the train's departure in roughly fifteen minutes. From across the room, Wario seemed to take note of Luigi's action and decided he may as well get to his position himself.

At the same time, Toad could be seen entering from the opposite side of the restaurant from the casino, where Mario entered about ten minutes ago. He made sure to send a wave to the group of friendly faces that took note of his presence and briefly made his way clear across the restaurant directly to the casino in the next car over.

Not long after he disappeared into the casino, an orange Pianta dressed in a jet black tuxedo with an equally black hat atop his head, a pair of sharp sunglasses, and a large, platinum ring resting on his left hand entered the restaurant from the casino side. He appeared to simply be walking about the train casually and didn't immediately take notice of any of the restaurant's patrons. Upon glancing slightly to his left however, he quickly spotted Mario sitting with his group of friends and instantly turned his attention in his direction.

"Hey, if it ain't Mario!" the Pianta greeted cheerily as he approached Mario's side and gave him a friendly pat on the back. "Long time, no see my friend!"

"Hey Don Pianta," Mario returning the greeting heartily, standing to shake the Don's hand with a smile. "I sure am running into a lot of old acquaintances out here. How are you?"

"Me? I'm great! I'm greater den great! I'm fan-absolutely-tastic!" Don Pianta answered with much gusto before pausing to observe the plethora of others looking up at him at the table. "Look at me, where are my manners? Here I am, talkin' to you like ain't nobody else here with us. Please, introduce me to your friends."

One by one, Mario went around the table and gave Don Pianta each of their names. Toadsworth and Yoshi stood up to shake the Don's hand as they were called, while Daisy and Peach remained seated, opting to nod instead considering they were further away from him than the men. Upon being introduced to Peach, a slight tone of surprise came to the Don's voice as he returned to speaking with Mario.

"So dis beautiful young lady right here is the Princess Peach you was looking for?" Don Pianta asked, causing Peach to smile shyly as Mario nodded to him in affirmation. "Well, I'm glad she's okay. I see that little adventure was a success then. Everyone came out on top."

As the Don spoke, Mario suddenly remembered what Bow was speaking with him about earlier. Pulling the Pianta aside to chat in private, Mario decided to ask him about the situation.

"Oh, don't remind me about dat," Don Pianta groaned once Mario mentioned Bow and her sisters' situations. "Dat Boo came chargin' into my cabin like she owns da place! Started demandin' I give Lahla and Peeka their jobs back."

"How come you laid them off in the first place?" Mario asked, causing Don Pianta to look around rather suspiciously, making sure nobody was within earshot.

"Look, dis ain't somethin' I'm particularly proud of," Don Pianta began, muttered to Mario as quietly as he could. "But, see, it's my daughter, Francesca. She and Frankie are gettin' married on Sunday and, as da father of da bride, I insisted I pay for da whole weddin'. In retrospect, it probably wasn't da greatest idea to think I could fund it all on my own.

"See, I'm a rich man, but even I have my limits," the Don continued, his voice seeming to grow quieter, not only because he didn't want to be heard, but he was embarrassed to admit that he ran out of money. "Francesca, she wanted a big weddin'. Huge. And she wanted it to be in Poshley Heights of all places, one of the most expensive towns in the world. I had to let some of my people go so's I could have enough money to rent out practically da whole town, _and_ pay for all da weddin' arrangements. Lahla and Peeka were replaceable, so they were some of the first to go. And, considerin' just how much coinage I blew on dis weddin', I don't have a clue when I'll be able to hire 'em back, or anyone for dat matter.

"Da casino's my best source of business right now," Don Pianta informed, glancing over at the car in which the casino rested.

"You own the casino in here?" Mario asked, prompting a nod from the Don.

"Best idea I ever came up with," he admitted, the tone of his voice lightening a bit. "People who travel on dis train tend to be loaded, and, before da casino, dere was pretty much no source of entertainment for 'em during their trip. So's I get to thinkin' and figure 'If these people got tons of cash on 'em, why not give 'em entertainment that liberates some of those coins while providin' them with some fun at da same time?' Result: da biggest cash cow I ever did own.

"Not dat I'm particularly proud right now," Don Pianta continued on. "Dis whole business of layin' people off came about solely because of my own shortsightedness. It pains me to make people suffer because of dat, but I had to do somethin'. I hope you understand."

"I do, but I'm not so sure those people you laid off are going to be so forgiving," Mario answered truthfully, causing Don Pianta to let out a small sigh.

"I don't doubt dat for a second," Don Pianta agreed. "I wouldn't forgive me either. But the best I can do right now is try to gather everything back up so's I can start doin' right by people again. I just don't know when I'll be able to do dat."

Just as the Don was finishing his sentence, the train's PA system gave out a noticeable click just before the voice of the engineer rang out all over the train.

"_Attention passengers, we will be departing in five minutes. I repeat, we will be departing in five minutes."_

At the same time, the train's conductor could be heard shouting "All aboard! The Excess Express will be departing in five minutes!" just outside. Taking note of the announcements, Don Pianta decided it was high time he headed back for his cabin. He gave his goodbyes to Mario and told him to drop by his cabin in the last car of the train anytime he wanted to chat. Before Don Pianta headed back through the casino however, he briefly called the waitress's attention and appeared to order a dish that would be delivered to his room later on.

"Oh, I can't believe this!" a voice suddenly cried out from right next to Mario, causing him to jump in recoil as Bow faded in out of thin air. "Does he think he can get away with something like that!? My sisters are out of a job because of his poor financial planning, that idiot! I shoulda whacked him with my fan when I had the chance," she fumed, fanning herself off furiously as she glared as Don Pianta exiting into the casino.

"It wasn't the best decision in the world, but he made a mistake," Mario said to the Don' defense, only serving to flair Bow's temper further.

"And mistakes are meant to be punished," she retorted. "Learning the hard way is the best way to learn if you ask me. We can't just let people go around making mistakes without correcting them can we?"

"I guess not," Mario answered, though he believed Bow was quick to dole out punishment no matter the case anyway.

"Hmph, well, I suppose I should find out where my cabin is at least. I feel annoyed just floating in this room," Bow admitted as she whipped out her ticket and scanned it over. Interested in finding out where Bow would be himself, Mario glanced over at the slip to discover where she could be staying.

**Car 1 Cabin A**

"That's right behind the engine room huh?" Bow asked, prompting a nod from Mario as she sighed. "I hope it's not terribly loud up there. I need peace and quiet in my own cabin, or else I get pretty cranky."

And Mario would hate to see Bow when she was "cranky."

Now that he knew where Bow would be staying, Mario was allowed to continue with his own devices after a goodbye hug and a quick smooch planted on the plumber's cheek. Mario was quite surprised to receive the motion of affection, but, thankfully, he could see that everyone back at the table were deeply engaged in what seemed to be a comedic conversation, so none of them noticed what just happened.

Bow soon disappeared once more and Mario was finally allowed to return to his dining table. Everyone welcomed him back as he took his seat and Mario quickly found himself to be the deciding factor in a split argument over which was the better vacation spot, Glitzville or Poshley Heights. Having visited and quite enjoyed both locations, and not wanting to disappoint anyone who supported the opposite of what he chose, Mario decided to stall on his answer until another announcement blared over the PA system.

"_Attention passengers, the train will be departing for Poshley Heights momentarily."_

Like last time, the conductor could be heard outside, shouting out the last call for any would-be passengers to board the train immediately.

Answering the call, a panicked voice could be heard shouting at the top of its lungs as the train's engine began to warm up.

"_Waaait! Wait for me!!"_ the voice pleaded.

Not long after that, the engineer declared that the doors were closing. He announced that the expected time of arrival in Poshley Heights was early Saturday morning and the train would be making a pit stop at Riverside Station along the way.

Mario wondered if that station was still in the same poor condition as it was the last time . It was hard to believe that station had any staff at all last time he was there, and, aside from the drawbridge, there didn't seem to be anything incredibly important there. But who knows, maybe they fixed the place up a bit.

Soon, the Excess Express was off, its whistle blaring for several seconds as the engine began to pump away from the station. Daisy and Yoshi rushed to the nearest window as the train departed, looking into the town and observing various residents waving from the station. The two of them waved back happily, until the train rounded a corner and removed itself from the sight of those back on the platform. The journey had finally begun, and they couldn't feel more excited about it.

–

After consuming their meals, Mario and his friends removed themselves from the restaurant and made their way over to the casino. Bow was the only other passenger present in the car along with the three staff employees. She was playing on a one-coin slot machine and appeared to be having a great time.

Just to her left stood a smiling Luigi nestled behind the lone card table, waving at the newcomers as they approached him. The casino was admittedly quite small, but, considering it _was_ on a train, it was impressive nonetheless. The room was windowless to help keep the area dim and comfortable and five slot machines lined the walled behind Luigi's card table. A roulette wheel rested on a larger table in the middle of the room, but it was unattended, closed for this particular trip according to Luigi. Next to the entrance was the teller's counter behind which Wario stood, watching everyone silently as he waited for someone to come to him for some chips, which were received by Toadsworth after a minute or two, realizing they would be needed if the group wanted to participate in any of the card games.

One hundred chips were taken to the table, twenty for each visitor, and they soon began to play several lighthearted, low stakes games of poker which, as everyone would soon discover, Luigi was quite good at. Nobody ever minded losing to him though. They were so wrapped in the good time they were having to care at all.

Eventually, Toad made his way over to the table, having just handed Bow her third drink in a row. With a smile, he greeted everyone the way he would have earlier if he had the time to do so, allowing himself to get wrapped up in conversation for several minutes before he asked if anyone would like a drink. He carried several on his tray of all different colors. Mario was the only one to pass, while Yoshi accepted a fruit cocktail, Toadsworth took some white wine, and Peach and Daisy both grabbed apple martinis. Luigi himself appeared inclined to snag the green drink that rested on the tray, but resisted the urge, remembering he wasn't allowed to drink on the job.

Toad promptly returned to the bar to make several more drinks when the waitress made her way onto the scene, carrying the steak dinner Don Pianta ordered before the train departed. Toad called her over to the bar and handed her a new green drink he just whipped up. It was Don Pianta's favorite, a sour apple martini. He admitted that he hoped he could butter the Don up with the gift so he just might have a better chance at getting a promotion he'd been seeking for a while now, prompting a chuckle from the waitress. She promised she would mention that Toad made the drink for him and, with a smile, exited through the opposite side of the casino. Toad barely had time to shed an inward smile before Bow shouted for his attendance, demanding yet another drink to distract her from the increasing amount of coins she was losing to the machine.

"Ha! Four of a Kind! Beat that!" Daisy exclaimed as she exposed her cards, showing four Star and one Mushroom, by far the best hand of the whole game so far. She was the only one to beat out Luigi's full house and received eight coins as a reward, as well as a round of clapping for her great luck. She let out a cheerful whoop as she took her coins, feeling rich compared to her fellow player, leading the game with a healthy thirty chips. Luckily for Luigi, everyone else had already fallen below ten chips each, so he could take pride in a job being well done as well as celebrate Daisy's good fortune.

The waitress soon reappeared and Yoshi made sure to catch her attention before she could exit to the restaurant. He had a sudden urge for a fruit parfait and asked if it was alright to order from the casino. The waitress happily accepted his request and bounded off to retrieve the dessert for him.

Just as Yoshi turned back to begin another hand of poker, the train's conductor entered the casino from the back and immediately headed for the card table, getting Luigi's attention.

"Don Pianta requested you see him in his cabin," the conductor informed, causing Luigi's eyes to widen slightly, wondering why the Don would want to see him in private.

"Um, okay," Luigi mumbled, setting down his deck of cards as he turned to follow the conductor to Don Pianta's cabin. Everyone watched after him until he was gone, feeling equally concerned about the sudden summons. How could he be in any kind of trouble though? He'd gotten promoted just a week after getting the job, so he had to have been doing something right. It was several minutes before Luigi made his return.

"What did he want to talk with you about?" Peach asked as Luigi began to shuffle the deck as if he'd never left.

"Oh, it was nothing." Luigi replied, not looking away from the shuffling cards that flew between his hands, "He just wanted to give me a "heads up"."

"About?" Mario asked further. Luigi replied by passing out the next hand, and everyone picked up on the hint that it was a private matter. The chatting resumed and spirits were high once more.

As everyone exposed their hands, Toad could be seen making his way over to Wario, who was leaning against the wall, bored. Wario glanced over at Toad as he was being spoken to and soon gave a small nod. Toad smiled at him and soon exited the casino through the back while Wario departed from his station and picked up the abandoned tray of drinks, temporarily taking over Toad's job as he went on a quick bathroom break.

Bow soon gave out a shout of glee as she managed to make her first winnings and promptly called for another drink. Toadsworth noticed that Bow was consuming quite the excessive amount of beverages in a rather short time, but that quickly became the least of anyone's worried as Toad suddenly burst back into the casino, a horrified look his eyes.

"Something happened to Don Pianta!" he exclaimed, seizing everyone's attention immediately. "H-He's not breathing!"


	2. Day One: Thursday Evening

**Can you catch the reference hidden in the chapter? It's from "Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga", a portion of what is possibly the best quote in Mario history. Gold star if you can spot it!**

_Ooh, ooh! I know where it is!_

**Well of course you know, you helped write the darn thing! Tell me something I don't know.**

_I open-mouth kissed a horse once._

**...What?**

_That's something you don't know._

* * *

**"Day One – Thursday Evening"**

Everyone simply sat there for a moment, unable to believe what they just heard. All sorts of questions raced through the minds of everyone in the casino: What happened to cause him to stop breathing? How did it happen? When did it happen? ...Was he already dead?

Mario was the first to react, slamming down his cards as he jumped out of his seat and raced out of the casino. Luigi followed him soon after, a look of shock and dread on his face as he speedily walked past the still-distressed Toad. The rest of the table's patrons exited soon thereafter, as well as Wario, looking more interested about the situation than worried. Toad was left behind, his utter shock still forcing him to stay planted on the spot. A moment later however, another guest anybody had yet to see aboard the train made a sudden appearance, slamming the door leading into the room from the side of the restaurant dramatically. The Bumpty newcomer stared across the room at Toad with incredible focus.

"Do my improbably sensitive nostrils detect the scent of..."

Pause for dramatic effect as the penguin suddenly lifted a magnifying glass to his eye.

"A MURDER MYSTERY!!??"

–

The door leading to Don Pianta's room was still open, Toad having been too shocked by his discovery to bother closing it behind him. Mario and Luigi stared inside with widened eyes as Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Wario crowded behind them. Everyone showed some expression of surprise upon laying eyes on the scene before them.

"Oh my goodness," Peach whispered once she had arrived at the scene, unable to believe her eyes. Don Pianta laid on the floor face down, just to the right of the table where his meal resting, waiting to be consumed. Toadsworth arrived thusly, wheezing about his arthritis and old-age.

"Dear lord, all of this running will be the end of me," Toadsworth huffed out, taking several moments to catch his breath after the four-car sprint. "Are you not fatigued after such a run Princess?" he asked, apparently having completely forgotten about the urgent news he received just moments ago. When Peach never answered and appeared to look greatly concerned about what she was seeing, Toadsworth turned his attention to the interior of the room and immediately calmed down.

"My goodness, what happened here?" he muttered almost to himself as Daisy stepped forward a small way into the room and stopped several feet from Don Pianta. She knelt down and stared at him intently for a moment before turning to look up at everyone.

"Does anyone have a stick or something?" she asked out of nowhere, obviously not understanding how to react to the situation. A number of raised eyebrows to answer her in silence and she soon stood up, feeling nervous as everyone simply stared at her. "Well, we have to see if he's alright don't we? I'm not gonna poke him with my hand!" She tried to defend herself, with little success. At that moment, Toad entered the car, alongside the eccentric Bumpty passenger he met just a little while earlier.

"S-so..." Toad asked with a shaky voice, "Is... is he really dead?"

Yoshi stepped forward and knelt down next to the body. He held his hand next to Don Pianta's nose. He didn't feel any moving air. He moved his focus to Don Pianta's neck and pressed two fingers against it. No pulse at all.

"Looks like it..." Yoshi affirmed with a heavy nod before standing back up. "But how could something like this happen?"

"I believe I can answer that!" a stuffy, Canadian voice shouted out enthusiastically from the doorway. Everyone but Mario turned immediately to see who made the confident claim, Mario himself simply sighing inwardly, for he felt he had a pretty good idea who was there. And his intuition was completely correct, for the Bumpty soon made his way into the Don's cabin and turned to face his fellow passengers.

"Who are you?" Wario asked, folding his arms as he stared at the penguin, unimpressed.

"Why, I am none other than the one and only Pennington, Master Detective, at your service," Pennington announced with a bow. Mario quietly shook his head, unable to believe that Pennington still hadn't given up on his "Master Detective" shtick even after all that time. He must have seriously enjoyed investigating mysteries in his spare time. "You're all very lucky to have me here. Unforeseeable and unavoidable circumstances nearly prevented me from catching the train this night. A word of warning: never leave a slippery bar of soap on the floor of a bathtub. The results could be disastrous."

"Pennington?" Peach spoke up, giving a brief glance to Mario as she tried to figure out why the name sounded so familiar to her. "I'm fairly sure I've heard of you somewhere."

"Naturally," Pennington responded with the utmost confidence, his head held high as he began to explain to Peach why it was only logical that she knew his name. "After all, I _am_ known as 'the penguin with the improbably large brain' in many circles. Surely you've heard of my many successful sleuthing adventures. Why, one of my greatest achievements was accomplished on this very train, with this very fellow right here working under my wing!" Pennington continued, having just realized that Mario was on the scene. Mario shed a nervous smile as Pennington stepped toward him and patted him on the shoulder. "Yes, Luigi and I worked ourselves out of quite the sticky situation on this train some time ago. Those were good times indeed."

"Oh...I think I remember where I heard of you now," Peach admitted, looking at Mario once more. Pennington was the "detective" Mario told her about when he recounted the details of his adventure to her after it had come to a close. And now Peach felt she had a reason to be just as nervous as Mario looked.

"Um, excuse me, but I don't remember ever solving any case with you," the actual Luigi spoke up, drawing Pennington's attention away from Mario. "I don't think I've ever even heard of you."

"Very suspicious indeed," Pennington suddenly declared, shooting into detective mode as he rounded on Luigi and glared at him through his magnifying glass. "I believe your ears may need some evacuation of waxy build-up, because I was clearly speaking with my former apprentice, Luigi."

"But, Luigi's my name," Luigi insisted, looking just as confused as everyone (minus Mario and Pennington) about the situation. "You're talking about my brother. His name's Mario."

"Mario? I've never heard of this Mario person!" Pennington scoffed. "And I believe there is something to be said about someone who would go around claiming to be Luigi," he added as he stepped toward Luigi and leaned in to him closely with his magnifying glass. "Yes...something to be said indeed..." he concluded with a strong hint of suspicion as he continued to watch Luigi closely for a few more seconds. Once he felt he'd seen enough, he lowered his magnifying glass and returned to his previous position next to Mario.

"Great," Luigi muttered quietly to himself. "The one person who knows me and he's a total whack job..."

"Um, Mister Master Detective Pennington Sir?" Yoshi spoke up, breaking the awkward silence as everyone but the brooding Luigi turned their attention to him. "You were saying something about knowing about how this person died?"

"Ah, yes, of course," Pennington recalled, whipping his attention back to the recently deceased Don. "You were inquiring as to how this person's life had met it's end. Well, the answer, my green colored fellow, is very simple."

Pause for dramatic effect before Pennington suddenly whipped around to face the group.

"_**MURDER!!**_"

"Murder!?" Everyone but Pennington and Don Pianta exclaimed at once as a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder erupted outside, despite the perfectly cloudless night sky.

"But, how do you know it was murder?" Luigi suddenly asked, turning all attention to himself immediately. His brother automatically wished Luigi had never said anything at all, but the card dealer continued without realizing he was only making himself look more suspicious with every word. "What if he died by accident, or by natural causes? What if he choked on his steak or something?"

"Hm, you seem pretty defensive about my conclusion," Pennington noted, staring at Luigi once again through his magnifying glass, causing him to gulp as he realized how bad it made him look to speak up like that. However, Pennington soon lowered his magnifying glass and held his hands behind his back, preparing to give the reasoning behind his claim.

"If you must know, we cannot declare suffocation by un-chewed food the cause of death for one simple reason," Pennington began just before suddenly pointing at the food resting on the table. "_The steak had not yet been cut into!_"

There was a collective gasp. No one had noticed, but it was true that the Don's steak had remained virtually untouched. There was no chance he could have accidentally choked to death.

"Also, if he choked, he would have at least made it to the door to request assistance," Pennington noted. "But, as you can see, he didn't even make it off his sofa before he bit the big one. 'The big one', in this case, _not _being his succulent T-bone steak dinner. So, I can safely say that this is most definitely a murder case."

"How do you _know_ it was a murder though?" Luigi asked, covering his mouth immediately as he refused to believe he just asked that. He certainly didn't need to make himself look more suspicious than he'd already managed to.

"Can you not see for yourself?" Pennington retorted with another nod to the food remaining on the table. "The martini glass knocked over with it's contents spilled onto the floor, and the steak sauce smeared all over like a caricature of a cartoon drawn by a kid who is stupid? A struggle took place here, between this rotund orange man and his murderer!

"And what's more, I know exactly who committed this most heinous of crimes..." Pennington added.

Pause for dram-

"Who?" Wario suddenly demanded, causing Pennington to grow suddenly disoriented, his pause having been interrupted. With the clearing of his throat however, his composure was quickly regained and he was soon able to get back to what would be the beginning of his common raging accusations.

"The one person on this train who had direct connections to this man was...LUIGI!" Pennington shouted, pointing an accusatory finger in Mario's direction as everyone's (minus Wario, who actually looked quite amused) mouths fell slightly agape.

"WHAT!?" Mario and Luigi exclaimed at once before Luigi quickly looked over at his older brother and his heart rate went down several beats.

"Oh, right," Luigi muttered, remembering Pennington had Mario's name confused with his.

Pennington nodded with a sad expression and a sigh as he began to give his reasoning. "To think that I took you under my wing when you were but a mere apprentice. But I do suppose that once you enter the likes of the Mustache Mafia, there's simply no turning your back on it. You had to take out your leader in an act of mutiny, a punishment for his cruel and unjust ways."

"Pennington...the 'Mustache Mafia' doesn't exist," Mario replied with sincere conviction and an exasperated sigh. "And even if it did, I would never join it anyway."

"Really?" Pennington asked with pouting eyes, frowning like a child who just discovered that Santa Claus wasn't real. He recovered quite quickly however, remembering he had to remain strong and professional, and his mind soon got right back to work on thinking about just who could have killed Don Pianta. "Hm, this case will be more challenging than I had first expected."

"Here you all are!" Bow screamed loudly upon entering the car, surprising quite the fair number of passengers with her sudden shrieking appearance. It was quite obvious all the drinks were getting to her, for she floated in quite the erratic pattern towards the group and her speech was horribly slurred. "I looked up to ask that li'l Toad guy to get me another drink, an' I saw that alla you had just disappeared!"

It wasn't long before everyone turned their attention back to the room and Bow looked around with her drunken expression, wondering why everyone was so oddly quiet.

"You guys look like you've seen a dead person or somethin'," she mentioned, her choice of words proving to be much poorer than she thought they were. However, as she spotted Mario at the head of the crowd, standing near the odd-looking penguin, Bow suddenly forgot about anyone else even being there at all and floated toward him, blushing as she hugged him around the neck once again. "Hey there Mario," she whispered giddily and seductively, causing Peach to eye the Boo with a jealous blush. "You promised you'd visit me in my cabin sometime, didn't you?"

"Bow, not now," Mario responded, pushing Bow off of him as a blush came to his cheeks as well. He gave a quick look around and realized that everyone was staring at him with mixed expressions. Teasingly, Wario gave the red plumber a thumbs up and a chuckling grin before Mario turned back to Don Pianta and pointed Bow's attention towards his body. "We're here because of Don Pianta. He's dead."

"Wow, no way!" Bow exclaimed overdramatically, floating over the Don's body and glaring down at him with angered eyes. "Well, good riddance if you ask me. The guy deserved it."

"Hm, you seem to be quite resentful of this man," Pennington began accusingly, looking at Bow through his magnifying glass. "Could it have been _you _who struck him down in your drunken state of mind?"

"What!? No way could I have killed him!" Bow replied defensively, floating directly in front of the Bumpty, though she couldn't remain still in the air, no matter how hard she tried. "I was at the roulettes table all night... Or uh...the slot machines... One of them."

"Come on you guys, we aren't getting anywhere!" Toad finally spoke up, obviously much more distressed about the situation that anyone else. The group of people had been there for quite some time already, yet not a thing had been figured out at all besides the fact that the Don had been murdered. "Don Pianta's dead. We have to start looking into this."

"Quite right," Pennington agreed with a nod, returning his attention to the victim once more. "We must think this all through from a logical standpoint. First, we must establish the time of death. When was the last time this person was seen?"

"I think the last time I saw him was at dinner." Yoshi answered immediately, personally glad to be seriously focusing on the case at hand. "He came to the restaurant and chatted with Mario for a bit, then went back to his room."

"So he was killed sometime between dinner time and now?" Pennington surmised, rubbing the bottom of his beak as the cogs in his thinker began to function.

"But he called Luigi for a meeting just a little while ago, remember?" Daisy spoke up, "Like, ten minutes ago."

"Quite true; he wished to speak with Master Luigi about something." Toadsworth added.

"Is this true Luigi?" Pennington asked, facing Mario. With a sigh, Mario told Pennington once and for all that his name was _not_ Luigi. He was _Mario_. The guy in the tuxedo and the green hat next to him, _that_ was Luigi. "Alright, if you insist, I'll go along with this little charade of yours," Pennington said, turning to the real Luigi and repeating his question. With a grave nod, Pennington once again lifted his magnifying glass and turned to Don Pianta's body.

"So, he was killed within the last ten minutes." Pennington concluded, "And the time of death was between nine thirty-five and nine forty-five."

Everyone in the car nodded in agreement, except for Bow and Wario, Bow having lost her balance in the process of nodding and simply falling to the floor, Wario genuinely unsure, for he wasn't following the conversation at the table that closely in the first place.

"Then the next question is, 'Who was last seen with this Don Pianta person?'" Pennington asked, turning back to the group as he waited for someone to be pointed out to him.

"Well, we first saw him during dinner, and none of us saw him again except for Luigi..." Peach began uncertainly.

"Then he turned up dead." Daisy finished without a second though before realizing she just hammered a nail into her beau's coffin. She felt horrible about being suspicious of someone who was always so close to her, but the facts couldn't be denied. Luigi was the last person to be in Don Pianta's presence before his death.

Everyone turned their gazes to Luigi, expressions of surprise and disbelief etched on their faces as the card dealer felt trapped against a wall.

"W-What!? You think it's ME!?" Luigi asked, practically pleading before the pleading part of his speech could even begin. "I-I would never do something like that!"

"You were the last person seen with Don Pianta." Pennington reminded him, invading his personal space once more as his magnified, judging eye stared at him. "You left his cabin within minutes of his death, and, as far as we know, no one entered the cabin afterwards." Pennington soon leaned in even closer, causing Luigi to lean back accordingly, beads of sweat dotting his face as the car suddenly felt hot beyond belief, his heart rate pumping up once again. "Not to mention your undoubtedly mysterious reaction to my conclusion that this Pianta fellow was murdered. Why would you immediately wish to deny that claim? Hm? _Hmm!?_"

"I-I was just thinking that maybe something else could have happened to him!" Luigi responded, quickly losing his composure as Pennington finally backed off of him and took a step back. "You've gotta believe me! I would never murder the Don!"

"Let's all just calm down for a second here," Mario spoke up, turning all attention on him as he walked over to his brother's side, as if to defend him. "We don't know that nobody else came into Don Pianta's cabin between the time Luigi left and when Toad found him do we?"

"Y-Yeah! What he said!" Luigi agreed, nodding far more vigorously than he needed to in his eagerness.

"Hm, you do make a decent point," Pennington observed while rubbing the bottom of his beak. "However, I believe I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one entered this cabin between those two times."

"How?" Mario asked, acting as the voice for everyone present.

"A conductor is stationed at the back of the train," Pennington informed, pointing down the hall at the employee in question, who was staring out the window with quite the thoughtful look on his face. "He would see anyone entering or leaving the cabin I'd imagine."

"That's true," Toadsworth agreed. "It might be an idea to ask the old bean if he witnessed anyone enter the room after Luigi."

With simultaneous nods, Pennington and Mario left the cabin and headed down the hall. Along the way, Mario gazed back at his younger brother, who looked back at him with what seemed to be every hope in the world.

"Excuse me good Sir!" Pennington shouted out obnoxiously before completely reaching the daydreaming conductor. The Toad immediately snapped out of his trance, shook his head once or twice, and turned to Mario and Pennington, who were now a mere few feet away from him.

"We would like to ask you a question," Mario informed in quite the relaxed tone compared to Pennington's recent shriek.

"By all means," the conductor responded with a smile, remembering the two fellows standing before him in the very back of his mind.

"A man in a green bow tie and cap recently entered this cab for a meeting with Don Pianta, and promptly left," Pennington began.

"Oh yes, I remember him. He always waves hello when he sees me," The conductor responded happily, looking down the hall at Luigi. Once he examined the card dealer's worried face this time though, his own began to lose its smile. "But he looked pretty concerned about something when he left. Like something bad happened."

"Reeeaaally," Pennington said with a quick, confident, "I-told-you-so" glance at Mario.

"Did anyone enter the room after he left?" Mario quickly asked, hoping to receive an answer that would work to his brother's advantage.

"Yes, I believe I saw that fine Toad gentleman walking up the hall," the conductor answered. "I was headed into the storage room to check on something when I saw him come up."

"Was that the Toad who just came into the Casino screaming bloody murder?" Pennington asked.

The Conductor nodded. "I spent a few moments in the storage room before coming back to out here, then a man dressed in red ran into that cabin of yours, followed by that green bow tie fellow you were talking about. Then two princesses came around, an obese human, and a wheezing Toad in his 'golden years' came around. After that, the same Toad dressed in the casino uniform showed up, plus a penguin who appeared to have an improbably large brain." Pennington gave a quick smirk at the last comment. "Oh yeah, and a green Boo who clearly had one too many."

Well, they got their incredibly literal answer...

"So, you're basically saying that nobody appeared after that point except for us?" Mario asked, crestfallen as the conductor immediately shook his head.

"Not that I can remember," he responded, unknowing that he had just sealed Luigi's fate. Mario's shoulders practically fell to the floor as Pennington wore a proud smile.

"Thank you very much," Pennington said with his matter-of-factly tone and a nod. Mario, however, was not quite so happy. His brother couldn't really be a murderer could he? Luigi was the most empathetic guy Mario had ever known; he felt guilty if he stepped on an ant scuttling along on a sidewalk. He'd never go so far as to purposefully take his own boss's life...

"So, what's the verdict?" Daisy asked as the two returned to the cabin. Pennington felt that everyone already knew the answer to that just by observing his and Mario's vastly different expression, so he decided it may be best not to beat around the bush about it.

"_**GUILTY!!**_" Pennington suddenly boomed, shaking the entire cabin and nearly knocking everyone's hearts clean out of their chests as another clap of thunder and flash of lightning assisted in the dramatic act of Pennington pointing accusingly as Luigi.

"B-But!" Luigi stammered, already at the verge of tears as everyone stared at him once again. "I-I... But..." Luigi muttered at a complete loss for word, everyone giving him different looks as he failed to defend himself. Aside from Mario, Daisy and Peach seemed to be the only two to appear to genuinely believe that there was no way he'd do such a thing, whereas Toad, Yoshi, and Toadsworth didn't appear to be quite so trusting. Wario actually smiled, greatly amused by the whole situation and Pennington, of course, held no sympathy for him whatsoever. Bow was busy being passed out on the floor.

Luigi broke out in tears after a moment's silence. He couldn't believe he was being prosecuted in front of everybody and he had no way at all to prove an ounce of his innocence. Even a few of his own friends appeared to be turning on him. How could such a thing happen to him all of a sudden? It was unbelievable. It was a nightmare.

"Tears won't lighten your punishment at all 'Luigi'," Pennington informed, staring at Luigi through his magnifying glass yet again. "I will contact the authorities stationed in Poshley Heights promptly. They'll be sure to lock you up tight as soon as you step foot off this train at our final destination. Your days of murder are over."

Pennington immediately left as Luigi broke out in more tears, streams practically shooting from his eyes as he collapsed on the floor and reverted to his days as a two-year old. Over the obnoxious sound of his crying the PA System clicked on and the train's engineer announced, "_Attention Passengers, we are approaching the ten o' clock curfew. Thank you and have a good night._"

One by one, the passengers left the cabin, leaving Luigi as alone as he felt. Over the course of his sobbing fit, he received at least one sign of hope to alleviate his despair over his dire situation. He could feel a consoling hand rest on his shoulder, and his brother's voice soon spoke to him with every ounce of truth in the world.

"I believe you Luigi."

Luigi looked up, his eyes already quite reddened from the massive amount of tears spewing forth from them. "What?"

"I said I believe you," Mario repeated as Luigi gave a small, pitiful sniffle. "You didn't kill him. I know you didn't kill him."

"Really?" Luigi asked, wiping away his tears. "Y-You really believe me?"

"Of course I do," Mario responded, helping Luigi to his feet and putting an arm around his shoulder. "Because you're my brother. I know you would never do something like this. And I'm going to try my hardest to prove that you didn't do it."

"Thanks Bro..." Luigi said, sniffling as he and Mario went to exit the room together. However, Luigi soon found himself tripping over something before he could even get out the door, and both brothers could hear a disdainful grumble come from the floor. It was then that they both remembered that Bow was still quite passed out.

"I guess I better take her back to her cabin," Mario spoke up with a nervous smile as Luigi practically read what was on his mind.

"Hope she doesn't wake up..."

_

* * *

_

_Leave a review, or else I'll kill myself!_

**Don't try to guilt the readers with empty threats. Just ignore him people.**

_These are not empty threats! They are in fact very filled threats. JELLY FILLED!_

**You're going to kill yourself with Jelly? I'd actually like to see you try...**

_Don't think I won't find a way to do it._


	3. Day Two: Friday Morning

**(Snappy wordplay)**

_(Clever response)_

**(Bewildered expression)**

_(Hearty laugh)_

**Sorry, we're facing budget cuts right now. Darn economy.**

* * *

**"Day Two – Friday Morning"**

Okay. If Mario was going to do this, he had to come up with a list of suspects that was a bit more extensive than "Luigi".

Who on the train would actually want Don Pianta dead? Well, the obvious answer to that question was Bow. She was the only one that openly expressed any sort of hatred for him, even after seeing his corpse lying in the cabin. Not to mention she _did_ visit the Don before the train even departed, though Mario wasn't quite sure how that could have any relation to his death a few hours later.

But she also drank herself into a stupor the previous night, something that Mario never would have expected her to do. She may have just gotten wrapped up in the excitement of gambling and didn't keep track of her drinking, or, maybe, she was attempting to drown her worries about killing Don Pianta...

Geez, Mario was gaining the mind of a detective already.

"I hate to do it, but I have to consider Bow as a possible suspect," Mario muttered as he gazed at the passing scenery from the window of his cabin in the second car.

So that was one other person he could try looking into a bit further at least. But, aside from the fact that she met with Don Pianta before the train set off, there was no evidence against her at all.

Mario let out a sigh as he headed for the door leading out of his room. He couldn't start making any more accusations without gathering some evidence and info first. All he had so far was the drink and the untouched steak in the Don's room, and even then, there was no way to tell if either of those items had anything at all to do with the crime.

As Mario closed the door behind himself, he had a feeling that he was probably the only passenger on the train that was already awake. It _was_ quite early; even the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. It was likely only around six, and, though Mario slept quite well the previous night, he couldn't deny that he didn't sleep for very long. He had to have lied awake in his bed for at least three hours before he could finally doze off, thoughts of Don Pianta's death and his brother's compromising situation riddling his mind.

It was all just incredibly sudden. To think, the Don of Untimely Death, dying on the very train that was en route to his own daughter's wedding. He wasn't even that bad of a guy once you gave him a chance, yet the most likely reason he was killed was thanks to some kind of resentment against him. And what could Luigi resent about him that would drive him to kill the man? He'd only been working underneath the Don for just over a week, and he even got a promotion for crying out loud. So what could possibly be his motive?

Mario walked through the eerily quiet train as all sorts of thoughts raced through his mind. Car after car was empty and utterly devoid of any noise besides the sound of the train itself gliding along across the tracks. The restaurant was completely empty and the convenience store next to it was closed. The casino that held such fun and entertainment just the previous night seemed to only bear an ominous foreboding feeling within, for it was uncertain whether the structure would ever be open again without its manager.

As he emerged into the car behind the casino, Mario figured he should probably stop by his brother's room and make sure he was alright. The events of the previous night were obviously traumatizing for him, and who knew if he was even safe or not anymore, being cooped up in that train with quite the amount of people who believed he killed Don Pianta. Sure, it was still early, but Mario could at least knock on his door or take a quick peek inside to check on him.

Mario walked through two more cars to arrive at the one that housed his brother's cabin. It must have felt unnerving for Luigi, being forced to stay in the car neighboring the one wherein a dead man continued to lie. A dead man whose passing was blamed on him nonetheless.

"Luigi?" Mario called out as he knocked on the door of his brother's cabin softly. He stood back for a moment and waited. Several moments later, the door cracked open ever so slightly and Luigi's tired, yawning voice spoke up.

"That you Bro?" he asked without looking outside.

"Yeah. Can I come in?"

Without a word, Luigi got behind the door and opened it up slowly, just enough for Mario to slip in before he closed it and wobbled over to his bed, yawning as he dropped unceremoniously onto his bed, barely sitting up as he looked at Mario with baggy eyes.

"You alright Bro?" Mario asked, rather distressed by Luigi's deteriorated appearance. Luigi soon buried his face in his hands and let out a long, tired yawn.

"I wasn't able to sleep at all last night," Luigi answered, appearing to struggle with the simple act of sitting up. "This whole murder thing has me pretty scared. What if I end up spending the rest of my life in jail? I wouldn't be able to handle that. And on top of that, people think I'm a murderer..."

Mario never felt so much pity for anyone he'd ever met more than he did for Luigi at that moment. He looked so broken up and distressed by the whole situation. There was no way he could have done it. It simply wasn't possible.

"Hey, Luigi," Mario spoke up, taking a seat on the sofa across the room from his little brother. "It's probably not the best time to ask, but what did Don Pianta talk to you about last night when you went to meet him?"

"Huh? I thought I told you already," Luigi responded, glancing up at his brother just long enough to receive a shake of the head. Luigi then let out a deep sigh and sat up as best he could. "Well, you know that I got promoted to card dealer right before you got here," he began, prompting a nod from Mario. "The reason I managed to get it so fast was because I told Don Pianta that you were my brother during my interview. He suddenly got really buddy-buddy with me and, before I knew it, I went from serving drinks to dealing cards. I was pretty glad about that too, because, even though I never spilled any of the drinks, I always felt like I was gonna trip and drop the tray on someone. That wouldn't have been good.

"Anyway, when I went to see him, he started talking to me about my job immediately," Luigi continued, gazing downward at the floor as he spoke. "I could tell before he asked to see me, but he was beginning to regret promoting me so quickly. He needed someone at the card table though, and I was there, so he gave me the job. But he told me last night that I'd only be keeping it until we got to Poshley Heights. After that, I'd be demoted back to drinks and Toad would take my place at the table because he's been working here a lot longer than me."

"_So you confess!!_"

Both Mario and Luigi nearly jumped out of their skin as Pennington apparently materialized within the room at some point and stared at Luigi judgingly. Both brothers stared at the door into the cabin immediately. It never once opened at all. How in the world-

"You, 'Luigi', continue to dig a deeper ditch for your own demise!" Pennington declared loudly, riling up a reserved amount of energy in Luigi that forced him to stand up defensively.

"What are you talking about!? What did I do this time!?" Luigi shouted back, pulling a complete one-eighty on his excitement level as his most unwelcome guest began to clarify.

"You just gave us your motive for _murder_," Pennington responded, staring over at the top of Luigi's dresser with his magnifying glass. "You didn't want to be demoted from the job you just got, and you felt betrayed by your boss for his sudden change of heart. You wanted to get back at him, somehow, some way. So, while you still had your window of opportunity to act, you struck him down and made sure that, if you were out of a job, he would be out of a life!"

"Th-That's not true at all!" Luigi retorted defensively, a frown on his face as his feeling of distress held sway over him once more. But, as Pennington stepped over to the dresser and retrieved something from its top, Mario's mouth fell slightly agape and Pennington appeared as if he held Luigi's final judgment in his very flipper.

"Not true at all you say..." Pennington began quietly, staring at the item for a moment before suddenly turning to Luigi and practically throwing it in his face. "Then how would you explain _this_??"

He revealed a thermometer. A broken thermometer, whose tube was emptied of all of its liquid. Mario could hardly believe his eyes and Luigi quickly went to stammering, trying unsuccessfully to explain.

"Th-That was like that when I got here!" Luigi defended himself. "I was gonna take it to the conductor to get it replaced, but I never got around to it."

"_A very likely story 'Luigi'_, but you're going to have to get up a little bit earlier than six oh five in the morning to fool the penguin with the improbably large brain!" Pennington declared triumphantly as he slowly paced toward the door, staring at the thermometer as he continued. "It's quite obvious once you look at the facts. Thermometers are known for carrying mercury, which is, in fact, a highly toxic _and_ water soluble liquid that could kill a grown man of any species within a matter of minutes. 'Luigi' here claims that he felt he knew what the subject of his meeting would be before he was even called in for it, so, on his way to Don Pianta's cabin, he made a pit stop here, broke the top off of this thermometer, and poured it into the Don's drink at some point during the meeting-"

"Wait, how would he even be able to do that without Don Pianta noticing?" Mario interjected quickly, relieved to find a hole in Pennington's explanation that the Bumpty was actually unable to answer immediately. It wasn't like the cabins were all that big, and the Don could have very easily had his eyes on Luigi the whole time.

"Hm. You have a point,," he muttered after a moment, shortly before carelessly tossing the thermometer over his shoulder, which Mario lunged forward to catch as Pennington continued toward his exit. "Well, we have a motive now at least!" he declared, bringing his energy back up without a beat and lifting his magnifying glass to his eye once more. "And I will be keeping my eyes on you 'Luigi'! When you make a confession, hide useful evidence, or so much as take a bite of a succulent green mushroom, I will be there, watching you, and waiting for you to slip beyond reproach! I will-"

Luigi slammed the door as soon as Pennington stepped foot out of the cabin and leaned back against it after turning to face his brother, his previously tired face looking newly reanimated with the threat of Pennington right around the corner.

"He could be right Bro," Luigi spoke out quietly as Mario inspected the thermometer for himself for a short time before tucking it away in a pocket and looking at his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Don Pianta tended to just not look at people when he spoke to them," Luigi continued, keeping his worried voice down. "He didn't even look at me during our interview until I said you were my brother. And he was actually looking out of the window the whole time I was meeting with him last night."

Luigi never ceased to astound Mario. It wasn't rare for Luigi to lie about pretty much anything, though he usually only did it when he told stories, but, at times like these, it just seemed like he was too honest about everything. It was almost as if he were suddenly trying to get Mario himself to believe that he really did commit the crime. However, he seemed to clarify just why he decided to impart that bit of information immediately.

"All of the employees on this train know that Don Pianta never looks at them during meetings," Luigi informed, still quiet. "If Pennington actually used that argument against me, Toad, Wario, and Waluigi would all believe him because it could be true."

"Could you please speak up 'Luigi'?" Pennington asked from the other side of the door, not having left yet and making Mario understand why Luigi was guarding the door and keeping his voice so quiet. "My sleuthing bag doesn't have a stethoscope I can use to listen more closely to you."

"Waluigi works at the casino too?" Mario asked, ignoring Pennington's eavesdropping as Luigi allowed himself to calm down and talk louder. Everything he had to say from that point didn't incriminate him and he moved away from the door. He actually hoped Pennington would hear this part of the conversation.

"He used to," Luigi began as he took a seat back on his bed and Mario went back to the couch. "Toad told me all about him. He was the teller before Wario, but Don Pianta fired him because he suspected him of stealing. Waluigi constantly claimed that he never stole a thing from work, but he was let go anyway. After that, he couldn't find a job for a long time, but it looks like he managed to get an interview somewhere in Poshley Heights. I don't know why else he and Popple would come back on this train."

"Did something happen to Popple too?" Mario asked, also hoping that Pennington was still eavesdropping.

"He managed to lose everything he had at the casino a few days ago. Cleaned of every penny to his name. What's more, he claimed that he was cheated and was kicked out permanently for being unruly. He's only on the train now because he and Waluigi are friends and they go pretty much everywhere together nowadays."

So, two more motives for murder and with them, two more suspects to look into a bit further. Popple and Waluigi...well, their histories were certainly convincing at least. Two known thieves, both ruined by the same man. Maybe the fact that they were on that train at the same time as Don Pianta was no mere coincidence.

Both brothers sat in silence for a moment, expecting Pennington to appear once more and assess everything he just heard. When quite the number of seconds passed by without any word from him whatsoever though, Mario got a little curious and went to open the door. As soon as he did, the penguin dropped face first into the room and slammed into the floor before letting out a grunt and quickly getting to his feet. He hastily straightened out his cap and bow tie and cleared out his throat.

"Yes, well, it seems six oh five in the morning _is_ a tad bit early, even for me," he admitted, embarrassed that he'd dozed off just a moment ago. "But it's quite evident that nothing more is to be discovered here. Thusly, I shall return to my cabin to..." he yawned, "...get a bit of sleep-er, further investigate this mystery!" he rebounded, looking through his magnifying glass once more.

"Bye," Mario briefly spoke up as he hurried over to the door and closed it shut once more. It was quite evident that Pennington hadn't heard a single thing Luigi had to say about Waluigi and Popple, but it didn't matter. As long as Mario knew, he had all the more ability to defend his brother and prove his innocence.

Before that though, it was probably a good idea to get a bit more rest.

"I'm gonna head back to my cabin Luigi," Mario informed his brother as Luigi sat on his bed once more. "Try not to worry about all of this too much and get some sleep. Just leave everything to me."

"Thanks Bro... I'll try," Luigi responded, his fatigue returning almost immediately after sitting down. It wasn't long before he lied down and closed his eyes, and Mario exited the room as quietly as he could.

* * *

_If my impeccable sleuthing skills are correct, I propose that you may now vote on who you believe who the murderer is!_

**Yep, just head on over to our profile and cast your vote. Can you beat Mario and Pennington and find the murderer first?**


	4. Day Two: Friday Early Afternoon

**Happy almost-birthday to me!!**

_Really!? When's your actual birthday Cascore!?_

**July 27th! A.k.a Tomorrow!! Whoo, I'll be nineteen years old!!**

_Schweet! Happy-almost-19th-birthday to you!_

**

* * *

**

Day 2 - Friday Afternoon (Early)

"_Attention Passengers, we will now be making a short scheduled stop at Riverside Station to refuel and inspect our recent...accident."_

Mario let out a long groan as he sat up and rubbed his tired eyes, opening them one at a time as he attempted to adjust his blurry vision. He slowly felt around beneath himself to confirm what his eyes led him to believe: somehow, he'd managed to end up on the rather hard floor instead of the soft, comfortable bed he'd fallen back asleep in several hours earlier. He'd forgotten he'd even drifted off in the first place. The last thing he remembered, he'd returned to his room to think about suspects and the new evidence he'd received at Luigi's room. Before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep, and, apparently, fell onto the floor at some point.

A few short moments passed before Mario heard his door slide open. Still feeling rather disoriented, Mario glanced over at his visitor with half-closed eyes.

"You okay over there?" Daisy asked with a quiet chuckle, stepping into the room as Mario continued to silently gaze at her from the floor, his body still wrapped in blankets. "Were you in here sleeping all day? Talk about lazy."

Mario took a second to glance out the window. The sky was dressed in a warm orange glow and light bathed the room completely, as if the sun itself were resting just a few feet outside. If he heard the announcement correctly, the train had already made its stop at Riverside Station...so it must have been afternoon. Man, he didn't think he'd slept quite that long.

But wait. The engineer said something about an "accident" didn't he?

"Did something happen?" Mario eventually asked, causing Daisy to suddenly give a wide smile before putting on a completely straight face and speaking in a playfully serious tone.

"'Uh, we had a minor technical difficulty with the engine, and an unforeseeable circumstance caused us to encounter a small collision. We apologize for the sudden disruptance.'"

Mario raised an eyebrow as Daisy couldn't help but let out a few giggles as she stepped back to the exit and placed a hand on the side of the doorway. "We crashed into the drawbridge," she summed up simply with a smile. "And, apparently, even the workers at the station have no idea where the switch to let it down is located (talk about weird huh). So Yoshi and I are gonna go find it!"

Talk about deja vu. Mario instantly remembered his rather tedious adventure of finding out where that switch was himself some time ago. He would have simply told Daisy where it was to save her and Yoshi a bit of time, but Daisy, after playfully urging Mario to stop being so lazy and stretch his legs a bit, departed before he could say a word. Mario figured it was probably just as well though. At least two people on the train weren't letting the recent murder dampen their spirits. That fact didn't help with the investigation at all, but Mario could take solace in knowing that not everyone was hung up over the case.

Mario soon found his way to his feet, unceremoniously tossed the blankets back onto his bed, stretched for a moment, and finally exited his room. He immediately headed for the next car over, where the door leading off the train waited. As he stepped out into the warm afternoon light, he caught a quick glimpse of Peach and Toadsworth to his left. Seeing him at the same time, Peach immediately turned and gave him an excited wave accompanied by a joyous smile. Mario immediately returned the gesture, though with less enthusiasm, his mind still lazy and racing as he approached her.

"There you are Mario. I haven't seen you all day," Peach greeted as Mario reached her. "I didn't know you were such a heavy sleeper." She was observing the engineers going to work on the engine. The train must have collided with the bridge quite violently, for the golden fender that the workers focused on was bent and mangled pretty badly.

"Yeah, I just woke up a minute ago," Mario informed tiredly. "The collision knocked me out of my bed."

"Are you alright?" Peach asked, turning her full attention to Mario as a slightly distressed look came to her face. Mario quickly eased her fears, telling her that he was perfectly fine, just a little disoriented thanks to his excessive sleep.

The sound of welding and hammering filled the air as Mario took a silent look at his surroundings. As always, the setting sun was giant and astoundingly beautiful, and it appeared that Toad was the only person to take the time to truly appreciate it. He could be seen quite far in the distance, standing on the platform above the staircase that was only reachable by going through the station and exiting out of its right side. Just in front of the building sat Wario, Waluigi, and Popple, all of whom were laughing quite jovially, an odd thing to see considering the looming feeling of the Don's recent death, but something that honestly didn't particularly surprise Mario in the least.

Toadsworth soon broke the relative silence with a noticeably loud sigh that attracted the attention of both Mario and Peach. The old steward had a gaze that seemed to stare a million miles away, and, as he spoke, he seemed to forget that anyone else was even there, sounding as if he were talking to himself.

"To think, the venerable Master Luigi could do such a thing..." he muttered, prompting an immediate frown from Mario, who quickly turned to face Toadsworth full on as Peach looked between the two of them, suddenly feeling worried.

"Toadsworth, don't tell me you actually believe Luigi killed him," Mario spoke up with a stern and somewhat pleading voice. Toadsworth soon snapped out of his thoughts and remembered he was standing with Mario and Peach. A defensive look came to the Toad's face for a moment as he looked over at the two of them, but his gaze quickly dropped to the ground below him as a feeling of shame came over him. The moment he observed the action, a fiery sensation of anger began to rouse itself in the pit of Mario's stomach. He couldn't believe that Toadsworth was actually doubting Luigi. It was absurd to think that he'd actually committed this crime.

"I can't believe this," Mario continued, a quiet, intimidating anger ringing in his voice. "Luigi would never do something like this, you know that. He couldn't even sleep last night, because he was scared that everyone thought he was a murderer. I can't believe that it's looking like he was right."

"It's just...not looking very promising Mario," Peach spoke up to Toadsworth's defense, though she appeared just as remorseful as the old Toad. "I dearly hope that Luigi didn't commit this crime, but there's nothing to suggest that he's innocent. And, without anything to prove he didn't do it, he's going to have to pay the price no matter what. Toadsworth and I want to believe in him as much as you do but..."

Peach didn't know how to finish her sentence, and Mario didn't waste much time before turning his back on her and Toadsworth to head back into the train. It hurt to know that two of the only friends Mario trusted to believe in Luigi had let him down.

But Mario couldn't deny that what Peach said was true. Any evidence that would help prove Luigi's innocence at all had yet to be found, and, thanks to Pennington, the police force in Poshley Heights was already well aware of the case at hand.

Mario had to find _something_ that would help Luigi. And he figured the best place to start was back at the scene of the crime. There had to have been something he overlooked there, considering he never really had a chance to inspect it more closely than simply standing just inside the room. If he could get there and take a more thorough look-

_**-CRASH-**_

The booming noise snapped Mario's focus back to reality immediately. He was now in the dining hall, and he quickly discovered that the source of the crash was the chef's pot falling to the tiled floor in the kitchen. It's mushroom stew had spilled all over the floor, and a distressed Chef Shimi immediately grabbed a nearby mop and began to clean the mess up, muttering disdainfully to himself as he washed away thirty minutes' worth of cooking.

"Oh, why does such bad luck follow me always!?" Shimi exclaimed angrily as Mario walked over to him.

"Do you need some help?" Mario asked just before having the mop suddenly shoved into his hands as the Cheep Cheep chef instantly put the pot back on top of the stove and began to make his stew all over again. Feeling that he was given clearance to go ahead and mop, Mario started to get to work.

Hardly a moment passed however before he spotted someone approaching from the side of his eye. He glanced over to see who it was and discovered that the waitress, having heard the crash from the souvenir shop, came out to see what was going on. Upon finding Mario mopping up the floor, she let out a quiet scoff and approached him, silently requesting the mop from him so she could do the work instead.

"Geez Shimi, you can't go around making our guests do work!" she scolded the frantic chef with her usual airy voice.

"I'm sorry, but my shoe is ruined! Gah, I mean _stew_! I have to start all over again!" Shimi responded frantically and he began slicing up several mushroom. The waitress simply sighed in response and glanced over at Mario, continuing to mop.

"I'm like, so sorry sir, I'll take care of this mess." However, as she looked at Mario, an odd gaze came to her face, as if struggling to remember where she'd seen him before. Her mopping eventually slowed to a stop and she finally decided to ask him a question. "Have you ever ridden this train before? Like, I _know_ I've seen you somewhere."

"Yeah, I rode this train several months ago. Before the casino and the new cars were added," Mario answered, recalling his first time ever riding the train. "The draw bridge was raised when I rode it that time too."

"Ohmygosh, I totally remember you!" the waitress suddenly shouted, placing her hands on both her cheeks in surprise as she allowed the mop to fall over and whack Chef Shimi on the back of the head. She quickly corrected herself, grabbing the mop back up as Shimi grumble and she promptly ignored him. "You were the guy who saved us all from that creepy smorg thing!"

Mario rubbed the back of his neck, smiling. He couldn't deny that it felt nice to receive a bit of positive recognition. "Heh, it was no big deal."

"Are you kidding? That was awesome!" the waitress insisted enthusiastically. "We were all like, 'We're totally doomed!', then you show up with that hammer like, 'I'm here to save the day!', and then-"

Chef Shimi cleared his throat rather loudly, nonverbally asking that the waitress not be so unnecessarily noisy as he focused on his work. The waitress took the hint and soon returned to her mopping in giddy silence. It was obvious she still wanted to talk though, and, once Mario figured he could probably get a bit of information out of her, she was able to do just that.

"So, can you tell me anything about the night of the murder?" Mario asked.

"You mean that guy who ran the casino that died last night?" the waitress asked, stopping her mopping immediately as she looked over at Mario once more with a rather sorrowful face. "I just heard about that this morning. I like, so can't believe he was murdered."

Mario was surprised to hear that the waitress hadn't heard about it at all until that morning, but quickly remembered that the death _did_ occur just minutes before curfew. Plus, she wasn't among the group of people who came to the scene of the crime. "How did you find out about it?" he asked as the waitress remembered she had a bit of work to do and returned to her mopping.

"I overheard those two purple guys talking about it with that 'Wario' man from the casino," the waitress answered. "You know, that really really tall Human guy, and his Beanish friend?"

"You mean Waluigi and Popple?" Mario asked, as if he needed the clarification. Not that it mattered, for the waitress simply shrugged.

"Like, I don't know," the waitress admitted. "Those are some pretty ugly names and they were both pretty ugly guys, so maybe. Anyway, they were just talking about how the guy who was murdered like, had it coming or something, and that that 'Luigi' guy who works in the casino being blamed for the murder was 'icing on the cake'."

That was right, Waluigi was fired from the casino recently for stealing, and Popple lost everything to his name in the casino. They would be absolutely ecstatic about Don Pianta's death. Not to mention they both had reasons for hating Luigi: Popple was stopped by him multiple times in the past, and Waluigi felt that he lost his chance with Daisy only because Luigi got to her first. But what did they mean by "icing on the cake"? It almost sounded as if they'd hoped Luigi would be found as the murderer.

"You were serving those two last night weren't you?" Mario asked, prompting a nod and a quick "Mhm" from the waitress in response. "And you were in the restaurant since before the train departed, correct?" The waitress repeated her response. "Do you remember ever seeing Waluigi and Popple going beyond the restaurant at all?"

The waitress slowed her mopping for a while as she tried her best to recall the previous afternoon. After a few moments of contemplation, she finally shook her head. "Nope, because like, I remember them being the first passengers on the train, and they never even went into the casino at all. Actually, they spent like, all day in here, until curfew. It was kinda creepy."

"I see," Mario muttered, slightly upset that both of them had an alibi for the time of the murder. If the two of them never even went beyond the restaurant, building an argument against them would be impossible beyond their motives. For the moment, Mario had no choice but to disregard them completely and instead focus his attention to the waitress herself. "So, can you tell me about what you were doing last night around the time of the murder?"

"Um, okay," the waitress agreed with a slight hint of reluctance. She couldn't help but wonder if Mario was actually suspecting her of the murder. "Well, like, that orange casino manager asked me to deliver a steak to his cabin. I don't know why he couldn't just like, eat in the dining hall like a normal person. It definitely would have been easier for little ol' me."

"Did anything happen when you delivered the steak?" Mario asked. "Did you see anybody on the way?"

"Um..." the waitress muttered as she slowed down her work once more, just before a sudden smile shot across her face. "Oh yeah! There was that cute Toad guy," she answered, letting out a quick sigh as a light blush came to her cheeks.

"Cute Toad guy?" Mario asked, insisting that she continue though he knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Yeah, he like, serves drinks in the casino," she clarified in an even more airy voice than usual. "He called me over and handed me a drink to take to the casino manager. He said he was trying to get on his boss' good side so he could like, get a promotion. Isn't that just the most adorable thing?"

Well it certainly seemed to work considering Don Pianta was talking about making him the card dealer just moments before kicking the bucket.

"You sound like you really like him," Mario commented with an honest smile, though he only spoke in hopes of possibly getting a bit more information of her.

"I guess..." the waitress responded, her blush growing deeper and her gaze growing far. After a moment or two though, she snapped back to reality with a small sigh and a faded smile. "But like, it doesn't even matter. He already has a girlfriend. In fact, he only got this job because of her."

"Really?" Mario asked, remembering that Toad had started seeing Toadette about a year or two ago. "Did she recommend that he apply for a job here or something?"

"No," the waitress answered with another sigh as she appeared to be trying quite hard not to let tears come to her eyes as she remembered the exact reason why he was there. Soon, after noticing that the kitchen was quite clean, she leaned the mop against the partition wall and exited the small area, heading over to a nearby window. Mario followed her as she leaned against it and stared outside. She was looking at Toad, who was still observing the sunset from his far-off post. The waitress couldn't help but smile once again as she watched him, though it was hard to tell whether it was one of infatuation or one of sorrow. "His girlfriend got into a bad car accident a few months ago. He got this job as soon as he could so he could pay for her medical bills."

Mario was rather taken aback as he heard this. Why wasn't he ever told about that? He would have gladly helped Toad if he had any money issues. Mario had plenty of coins lying around from his numerous adventures.

"That doesn't really sound like Toad," Mario mentioned, walking up to the waitress's side and looking over at the drink server for himself. "You'd think he would want to be at her side."

"Well, that wouldn't like, do any good would it?" the waitress retorted, keeping her gaze on Toad. "I mean, since she's in a coma and all."

Mario remained silent, not having foreseen that bit of information. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to bring that conversation up at all. But the waitress didn't seem to want to stop talking about it.

"But he says that, every time we come here, when he sees this sunset, he feels like she's right there by his side," she added, her voice slightly choking up as a tear suddenly coming to her eye. "And like, he's even willing to work abroad just so he can help her. Isn't that just _so_ totally romantic. I can only _dream_ that I could find a guy like that some day."

"Right," Mario responded quietly, rubbing the back of his neck once again as he continued to look out at Toad. He didn't expect to hear such a story, and it certainly made him feel terrible about Toad's situation, but he had to get back to the subject at hand if he hoped to help his brother at all. He hated to bring the waitress's mind back away from Toad, but he had one more question to ask her. "So um...getting back to the murder," he began slowly, realizing just how awkward it felt to say such a thing in that situation. "Did you see anything strange in Don Pianta's room?"

"Who?" the waitress asked absently after a moment, tearing her gaze away from Toad as she wiped her eye and gave Mario most of her attention once again.

"The casino manager," Mario clarified briefly.

"Oh. Um...no, not really," she answered, thinking back to her time in Don Pianta's room. "His room was kinda dark. He totally had this 'Godfather' look going on, like, the way he was staring out the window and everything. He didn't even say thanks when I brought the food. He just gave me like, a grunt, so I left as soon as possible. As I was heading back here, I heard him call the conductor to ask that Luigi guy to come to his room."

"Feh," Mario heard Chef Shimi grumble quite loudly from the kitchen. Both he and the waitress looked over in the direction of the kitchen for a moment before Mario headed over to ask why exactly he made that disdainful noise. The waitress decided to stay behind though, preferring to look out at Toad instead of follow Mario back to the kitchen.

"_Luigi_," Shimi muttered spitefully as Mario walked up behind him without his notice. "I can't believe I must see that man every day. I rate him so much. Oh, curse my English-butchering tongue..."

"Why do you hate him?" Mario asked, having easily discerned exactly what word the chef was trying to say. Shimi gave a noticeable jolt at the sudden voice, spilling a bit of water on the bare stove. Focusing more on the minor accident though, he quickly got over Mario's interjection and began to explain as he grabbed a small rag.

"He is always _cricketing_ my cooking." He groaned. "I mean, _critiquing_. 'Too much mushroom' he says. 'Not enough meat'. If he thinks he is so much better with food than me, why does he not just fake my job!?"

Mario could only guess that Shimi meant 'take', and he could see the chef's point. Most of the time, Luigi was probably the most likeable guy in the known universe, but when it came to cooking, he never failed to become something of an elitist snob. To him, if everything wasn't absolutely perfect in a dish, he would berate it endlessly and never seemed shy about pointing out every single flaw there was. However, when he cooked himself, nobody could really blame him for being that way. His food was always perfect. Even the most jaded of critics couldn't honestly have any complaints about it.

"But it is all okay," Chef Shimi continued, a small smirk growing across his lips. "Now, whenever he eats here, I make sure to shi-...oh, I almost made a terrible slip-up there. I _spit _in his food."

That was a little immature wasn't it...? And incredibly gross. Mario would probably have to let his brother know about that soon.

But wait. If Chef Shimi would spit in the food of someone he didn't like, was it too much to think that he'd go so far as to add something else that was quite unpleasant to anyone else's food? Like, say, mercury?

But, Don Pianta hadn't even touched his steak before he died... Well, it couldn't really hurt to ask anyway.

"What did you think of Don Pianta?" Mario asked, causing the chef to scoff immediately as he began adding various spices to his new batch of stew.

"That is the one man I hate more than Luigi," Shimi admitted angrily. "He always repremands special dishes. Gah. _Demands_ special dishes. As if the menu does not apply for him too! You see, the meals that appear on the menus are the only ones I have the proper ingredients for during the trip. But, for _every single feel-**meal**_, he asks for something that is difficult for me to make with what I have. Spaghetti. Ratatouille. Bouillabaisse. This is a five star restroom-" He sighed. "_Restaurant_, but he never seems to understand we have limited resources."

That was all Mario really needed to hear. If the chef had more of a dislike for Don Pianta than he did for Luigi, then that warranted enough reason with Mario to investigate his case a bit further. Of course, it was already proved that the food he made for the Don was quite untouched, but one could never know. He'd have to investigate the scene a second time before he could come to such a certain conclusion.

Without a word, Mario left the two restaurant workers to their own devices and continued on his way toward Don Pianta's room. He passed through the dark casino and the empty car behind it, entering into the second-to-last car. Mario figured his brother was still sleeping, considering he was among the only people he hadn't already seen that day (aside from Bow, who was likely still getting over what was surely a terrible hangover, and Pennington; honestly, who ever really knew where that guy was). However, as he passed by Luigi's room, he could hear the noticeable sound of shuffling, and, looking over, he could see that the door into the room was sitting slightly ajar. He stepped over and peered inside.

Luigi was still sleeping quite soundly. So...what exactly was making that... Oh, of course.

Sliding the door open quietly so as not to alarm neither the intruder nor his sleeping brother, Mario quickly stepped over to the familiar Bumpty investigator, who was rifling through Luigi's dresser rather haphazardly, tossing clothes and socks about without much care about where they landed.

"Pennington," Mario hissed quietly, causing the penguin to give out quite the high-pitched, startled yelp as he jumped several feet high and whipped around to face Mario, his magnifying glass held defensively, ready to attack. When he saw it was only Mario though, he began to allow himself to calm down. "What are you doing in here?" Mario asked, keeping his voice down as he spoke.

"Investi-" he began with a squeaky voice before quickly clearing his throat and trying again. "I'm investigating."

"You're breaking and entering," Mario shot back matter-of-factly, grabbing Pennington by his bow tie and dragging him out of the room. "That's a crime punishable by law you know. Wouldn't want to end up in jail yourself would you?"

The Bumpty struggled against the plumber's grip, but his puny flippers served little purpose for his attempts. Mario dragged Pennington out of the room, only turning to make sure Luigi was still sound asleep. Thankfully, his brother was still sawing logs quite peacefully, and Mario made sure to slide the door closed softly before unceremoniously dropping Pennington onto the floor.

"For goodness sake 'Mario', why do you continue to defend that killer?" Pennington asked in a huff as he dusted himself off and looked up at the rival detective with furrowed eyebrows.

"Pennington, Luigi is _not_ a killer," Mario responded with a hint of frustration and anger in his voice. He tried his best to put up with Pennington's knack for appearing in all the wrong places at all the wrong times, and for being so insistent that Luigi committed the crime, but the Bumpty's constant interference was beginning to finally get to Mario. "Why were you looking through my brother's dresser like that?"

"Because, 'Mario', 'Luigi' is obviously hiding a vital piece evidence that will break this case wide open, and I must locate it!" Pennington answered, lifting his magnifying glass to his eye as he quickly regained his usual composure.

"What evidence?" Mario asked with a sigh.

"The thermometer of course!" Pennington suddenly shouted back quite overdramatically. "The one I discovered this morning. It is the damning clue to the crime, and that miscreant knew it! So before I could come back to retrieve it he stashed it away, trying to cover his tracks-"

"I have that thermometer right here," Mario cut him off, extracting the broken item from his pocket and showing it to Pennington, who simply stared at it blankly as words seemed to escape him for a few seconds.

"How-?"

"Right after you found it this morning, you just threw it over your shoulder and left. Remember?" Mario answered. "I caught it before it hit the floor because I was afraid it would shatter. It's been in my pocket the entire time."

"Um...yes, I believe I do _vaguely_ remember that certain occurrence..." Pennington admitted slowly, looking away from Mario and out the window in embarrassment. Before long though, he turned back to Mario and promptly held out his flipper. "Well, please hand it over," he insisted. "That's a vital piece of evidence, and I must keep it safe."

The same way he was determined to keep it safe that morning by casually tossing it over his shoulder? Yeah, no.

"I'd prefer it if I could keep this," Mario said honestly, immediately tucking the item away in his pocket once more as Pennington dropped his extended arm and let out a grumble.

"Yes, well, despite your apparent need to defend the guilty, I suppose I can trust you with that particular piece of evidence," Pennington said as he began to make his exit. Mario expected him to throw in a few parting words, but, to his surprise, Pennington simply exited the car, heading in the direction of the casino in silence. Shrugging off the encounter, Mario made his way through to the back of the car and emerged into the end of the train.

He stepped over to the door of the lone cabin, slid it completely open, and almost immediately wished to close it tight once more as an incredibly foul stench practically blasted out and smacked him in the face. He nearly wretched as he quickly pulled the collar of his shirt up over his nose, wearing it as a makeshift mask that would provide him with slightly purer air than the room would provide for him.

He immediately wondered what in the world could have caused such a stench as he stepped in, and his first thought went straight to the corpse of Don Pianta. At some point, the conductor had the good sense to at least drape a blanket over his body, though it seemed to barely cover him, leaving his arms and his lower back exposed. However, as Mario took a closer look around, he noticed that the now-rotting T-bone steak was still sitting on the table. That was quite obviously the biggest source of the offending stench. It was likely the scene was preserved specifically for the sake of the investigation, and Mario was appreciative of that, but he couldn't help but think that the stench alone would be enough to kill just about anyone else who walked into that room. It was obvious that cleaning the smell out of that room once the train reached Poshley Heights was going to be an immense task for whoever was assigned to it.

Feeling that he had a limited amount of time before the horrendous smell would cause him to pass out, Mario quickly stepped further into the room and inspected the first thing that caught his eye: the deceased Don Pianta. As he looked a what he could see of the Don, Mario couldn't help but feel that something was different about his attire. Sure, it was already disheveled and his hat had fallen off thanks to his collapse, but something else seemed out of place. Like something was missing...

The ring. As Mario knelt down and took a closer look at both of Don Pianta's hands, he noticed that the platinum ring he'd worn into the restaurant was gone. Where could it be though? He wouldn't have taken it off before he died would he?

Ick...Mario would have taken some time to look for the ring, but the smell was really starting to get to him already. He could almost literally feel his stomach turning as he glanced over to his right in an attempt to keep himself from wretching yet again.

Hello. What was this?

Mario reached a hand underneath the table and grabbed a small, bright pink feather that rested below it. A pink feather... That could have only come from one source. But, before he could begin to think too deeply on the subject, he soon got to his feet and hurried back to the door, opened it up, and slammed it back shut the moment he was outside. He pulled his shirt back down below his chin and took a number of deep breaths of fresh air. Well, fresher air at least, for the stench was beginning to seep its way into the hallway itself. And Mario felt terrible knowing the conductor had to endure such a smell all day.

"Good afternoon!" Speak of the devil, the conductor was waving at him at that very moment. Mario turned to see the endlessly effervescent train attendant guarding the storage room as diligently as ever, a smile on his face as Mario made his way over after quickly pocketing the feather away.

"Hey there," Mario returned the greeting, suddenly remembering a few questions he'd been meaning to ask the guy for a while now. "Would it be alright if I asked you a question or two?"

"About the night of the murder I presume," the conductor clarified for himself with a smile, appearing to rather enjoy being such a major part of the whole case. Once Mario thought about it, it was a pretty thrilling idea to know that you were a vital part in the success of an investigation. "That Bumpty fellow just asked a few question not too long ago, so I don't see why I shouldn't talk with you too. Besides, I kinda owe it to you anyway, right? You _did_ save my life before."

"Well, I'm glad you're so eager to help," Mario said with a smile, slightly surprised by the conductor's peppiness, which seemed to be a bit much, even for him. "So, just tell me whatever it is that you told Pennington."

"I'd be glad to. Well, I started my morning yesterday with some buttered toast and a tasty banana-"

"Um, maybe you could skip ahead to the time of the murder?" Mario insisted, chuckling a little as the conductor gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Funny, Mr. Pennington cut me off right around there as well. You two certainly seem to have a lot in common, what with being detectives on top of that."

Mario's heart gave a small jolt as he thought about being similar to Pennington...

_"Rudimentary my dear Daisy!" _he would shout at Peach as he stared at nothing through a magnifying glass.

_"Aha, so you confess!"_ he would exclaim as he emerged from the water of Bowser's bubble bath.

_"**IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG!!**"_ he would yell at a blade of grass that swayed in the wind in a slightly different pattern than the surrounding blades of grass.

Mario shuddered.

"Well, the waitress came down the hall," the conductor soon began, "complaining about having to walk down half the entire train just to deliver a steak to an obese orange man, who I presume was Don Pianta. Poor thing didn't even get a 'thank you' for her toil. After she left the cabin, the obese orange man in question shouted at me to go and get Mr. Luigi. I figured that was a task he could have given to the waitress as she was leaving, but, well, I also figured she was working hard enough as it was already. So I didn't complain.

"At first I became concerned about the safety of the passengers' luggage, but the casino was right down the hall, and I would easily see anyone making their way to the storage room. So I quickly retrieved the kind man in green and brought him back to Don Pianta's room. He closed the door behind him, so I didn't hear any of the conversation.

"Afterwards he came out with a disconcerted look on his face. He was clearly worried about something. It was quiet for some time after that, but, after a short while, I heard a rather nasty crash come from the storage room. So, I set the timer on my watch and-"

"Why would you do that?" Mario cut him off immediately, bringing a smile to the conductor's face once again as he showed Mario his wristwatch.

"You see, I like to time myself every time I go into the storage room," the conductor began. "I know it's kind of odd, but I challenge myself by making my trips into the room as brief as possible, no matter what it is I'm doing in there. Most of the time, I'm simply retrieving certain items for guests that request them, but, on certain rare occasions like the one last night, I have to go inside and clean a few things up. My fastest time doing the former was twelve seconds, while my fastest for the latter was thirty."

Not bad, Mario thought as he gave a nod, indicating that it was okay for the conductor to put away his watch and continue with his story.

"So I set my watch and, just before I turned to go in there, I saw Toad coming up the hallway with a smile," the conductor continued. "He waved at me and I gave a quick one back. I would have stopped to chat with him for a bit, but I was on the clock, so I had to move. Once I got back there, I discovered that one of the bags had toppled and the entirety of its contents were spilled all over the floor. I believe it was Miss Bow's luggage, and there was quite a lot of it. It took me two minutes and thirty-three seconds to clean it all up and get back to my post. My mind began to wander rather quickly as I wondered just how the bag collapsed and I soon found myself looking out the window as I thought. And, seconds later, you and everyone else arrived on the scene."

So, there were two points in time that the conductor was not present at his station the previous night. One time when he went to the fetch Luigi, and another time when he went to check on the luggage.

Maybe Mario could press him a bit further about his first departure.

"Okay, I just have two more questions for you, then I'll be on my way," Mario informed, prompting an eager nod from the conductor and a smile.

"Ask away. To be honest, I quite enjoy these interviews," he admitted, causing Mario to smile himself. At least the guy was keeping a light spirit about things.

"First, do you know approximately how long you were gone when you went to get Luigi?" Mario asked, causing the conductor to think quite deeply as he struggled to remember.

"Well, it doesn't really take very long to walk over to the casino and back," he began, speaking mostly to himself as he appeared to walk the distance in his mind. "I would say that, at average walking speed, a round trip between here and the casino would be about a minute and a half. You know, forty-five seconds each way."

About a minute and a half at average walking speed. Mario would be sure to keep that in the back of his mind.

"Second, who stays in the cars that are between this one and the casino?" Mario then asked, a question the conductor was more readily able to answer.

"Luigi and Yoshi are staying in Car Seven, the next one over," he answered. "And Toadsworth and the two princesses are staying in Car Six. Past that car is the casino, then the restaurant, and all of the other guests are staying in Cars One through Three. Would you like to know who's staying in the remaining rooms? I have them all remembered if you'd like to hear."

"Sure," Mario said, figuring it couldn't hurt not to learn where exactly everyone else was staying. While he was getting information, he may as well get as much as he could.

"Okay, in Car One are Toad and Miss Bow," the conductor began excitedly, as if he were taking a test he already had all the answers to. "In Car Two, there's you and Wario, and in Car Three are Waluigi and Popple."

Huh, Mario had no idea that the band of thieves were in cabins all around him. He didn't really know what he could do with that bit of information, but hey, it was always nice to know anyway. So, with that, Mario figured he may as well let the conductor get back to work and soon gave his goodbyes. The conductor sent him off happily and Mario soon made his way back to the very front of the train. He figured he'd already found and learned everything he was going get with what and who was inside the train and made his way out to get some fresh air and possibly question a few people out there. Or at least have a little talk with Toad about Toadette.

As soon as Mario stepped off the train, he headed for the edge of the platform, where he spotted Peach and Toadsworth looking on as Pennington talked with a Toad police officer, who stood next to his car with a pen and pad in hand.

...

Wait... A POLICE OFFICER!?

"Um...what exactly's going on here?" Mario asked worriedly as he stepped over to the gathered group. Peach and Toadsworth both looked unsure about the scene themselves, whereas Pennington shed quite the accomplished smile. Mario glanced over at the back seat of the car, and, to his dread, he saw the one person he never wanted to see sitting there, hands cuffed behind his back as he looked out the windshield with a frightened face.

"Ah, there you are 'Mario'," Pennington greeted joyously. "Since the train doesn't appear to be going anywhere, I took the liberty of contacting the authorities from a nearby town."

The police officer in question now spoke up, looking up from his pad momentarily to talk to Mario. "We're here for the arrest of Luigi Segale on the charge of murder."

* * *

_Luigi Segale? I thought his name was "Luigi Mario"... *shudders*_

**You thought about that horrible Mario Bros. Movie didn't you?**

_Dude, that thing has scarred my childhood for life_

**Well the reason I went with "Luigi Segale" was because before Mario was Mario, he was known as "Jumpman". But he was later called "Mario" after Mario Segale who was the landlord of Nintendo's Warehouse where they stored all of their arcade machines. After a fierce argument with a nintendo employee about back rent, they retorted by giving Jumpman his name, in essence, Mario Segale. And therefore his brother is Luigi Segale.**

_Wow, Nintendo is extremely uncreative in the naming department. Did you know when Donkey Kong was released in Japan, he was known as "Mr. Video game"?_

***Shudders***


	5. Day Two: Friday Late Afternoon

**Day 2 – Friday Afternoon (Late)**

Mario had to do something, fast. Pennington, despite his lack of any actual investigative competency, definitely seemed to be making one point very clear: time was a limited factor. Even if he couldn't prove his brother's innocence on the spot, Mario had to find some kind of way to improvise and keep his brother from being carted off without any kind of resistance.

"Just wait a minute," Mario suddenly spoke up, attracting a raised eyebrow from both Pennington and the officer, who ceased his writing for a moment to lend an ear. "How are you so sure that Luigi's the one who committed this crime?" Mario continued, speaking to the officer in particular. Pennington opened his beak to respond immeditely, but the officer answered before he could get a word out.

"Detective Pennington here has made it quite clear that Luigi was the last person seen with the victim before his death," the officer noted. "We've verified that claim with everyone in the immediate vicinity. Nobody's disagreed to the statement."

Mario took a moment to look over at Peach and Toadsworth, who only gave him a sorrowful look in return. They'd obviously played a part in convicting Luigi, but Mario couldn't blame them for simply telling the officer what they knew. Still though, he couldn't help but feel just a little more betrayed as he returned his attention to the officer.

"Just because everyone said he was the last person with Don Pianta doesn't mean he killed him. That's merely conjecture," Mario pointed out, not entirely sure where exactly he was going with the argument. He had to hold out until he could figure something out though. "You can't convict him unless you have solid evidence."

"I'm quite sure Detective Pennington already has the 'solid evidence' in question," the officer responded with a slight hint of impatience, returning his attention to his pad as he continued to the penguin. "I believe you said something about a drained thermometer."

"Indeed I did," Pennington stated with a satisfied smile, shooting Mario a snarky glance as he turned to the officer. "We have confirmed that Don Pianta's death was caused by mercury poisoning, and the thermometer found in 'Luigi's room was the only one on the train that had been drained of it's mercury. It's really quite rudimentary once you get right down to it."

Pennington seemed to be jumping the gun a bit. No surprise to Mario. They weren't exactly sure whether or not poisoning was actually the means of death, it just seemed the most probable at the moment. But that wasn't exactly something he could argue. However, he did remember that he had something that just might point the accusing finger in a different direction.

"But that's only one piece of evidence," Mario retorted defensively, digging into his pocket immediately as Pennington turn to face him skeptically and the officer glanced up from his pad. The red plumber/detective soon extracted the bright pink feather he'd found at the scene of the crime moments ago and held it up for everyone to see. Peach and Toadsworth looked just as confused about the small article as Pennington and the officer did.

"A feather?" the officer asked in slight disbelief. "What's so significant about a little feather?"

"I would suppose it's not so much about the feather as it is how exactly it got there," Pennington deduced astutely as Mario nodded in agreement, observing the feather through his magnifying glass. "It's a rather bright pink. Not a natural color for most avians, and I'm certain that I'm the only avian aboard this train." He then lowered his magnifying glass and glanced over his shoulder at the officer. "And it's quite obvious that my feathers have already molted."

Mario couldn't help but give a small smile. For the first time, Pennington actually seemed to be helping. But the officer soon lowered his pad and raised an eyebrow at the both of them. "So, what does that mean? Where'd the feather come from?"

Mario's heart gave a quick jolt as he remembered the source of the feather, which came from someone he absolutely hated to speak against. But, if it would buy his brother some time, well, he would have to do everything he could.

"It's from Bow's fan," Mario answered, sparking everyone's interest immediately as all sort of questions ran through their minds. Peach was the first to verbalize one of them.

"How would a feather from her fan get into Don Pianta's room?" she asked, prompting a nod from Toadsworth, indicating that he wondered the same thing as Mario turned to face them.

"Before the train left the station yesterday, Bow went to Don Pianta's room to talk to him about her sisters's jobs," Mario answered, enlightening the entire group as he continued. "This was before her baggage was checked, so she still had her fan with her. It must have fallen off while she was in there."

"What was so important about her sisters' jobs that she had to go talk to him?" Pennington asked, bringing voice to the officer's own question as well.

"Bow's sisters were laid off recently," Mario explained. "Don Pianta's been laying off a lot of people lately because he's been running low on money thanks to his daughter's wedding this Sunday. He didn't know if he was going to be able to hire anybody back."

"Hmm, I see... A new development has shown itself!" Pennington declared, snatching the feather right out of Mario's hand before he had any time to react. The penguin took a few steps away from the group as he held the evidence up into the air and stared at it through his magnifying glass once more. Mario could only hope that he didn't accidently drop it or carelessly toss it like he did with the thermometer. A feather wouldn't be quite so easy to save. "How could I have missed something so obviously important to this case!? We must locate and interrogate this Bow immediately!"

"What?" a voice asked simply just before Bow materialized out of thin air right in front of Pennington, who jumped a mile high and let out a timid squeak. Everyone else was quite surprised to see her appear so suddenly, though it was obvious she wasn't doing very well. Her eyes were quite baggy and the ribbons on her head drooped noticeably, showing a lack of care for fixing them up beautifully like Bow tended to do.

Pennington soon clearing his throat, shoved Bow's fan feather almost literally into her face, forcing her to float back a few inches.

"_You, my dear 'Lady', are now rather high on my previously quite shallow list of suspects for this murder investigation!!_" Pennington shrieked, making Bow groan and cover her ears in pain. "Please, why don't you inform us as to _why_ this feather, obviously from _your_ fan, was discovered at the scene of the crime!?"

"I'll explain as soon as you stop _yelling at me!_" Bow growled back, glaring at Pennington with a scowl as her hangover was obviously troubling her quite a fair bit. "I'm like, two freaking feet from you. Just cool it with the shouting."

"_You get no sympathy from me!!_" Pennington shouted back, ignoring Bow's request as she immediately covered her ears once more and everyone around felt that the scene was going to become ugly quite quickly. "_Murderers_ deserve no sympathy from anyone '_Lady_' Bow! I will continue to yell at you until-"

"Wait, did you just call me a _murderer_!?" Bow retorted, insulted, her eyebrows furrowed as her scowl grew even deeper and she stared at the feather in Pennington's hand. "So, just because my fan's feather was in the guy's room, you think I killed him!?"

"NATURALLY!!" Pennington yelled, appearing to grow in size as he grew more passionate about the argument with every passing second. "The evidence: this feather! The motive: your sisters' jobs! The means: mercury poisoning that _you_ slipped into one of Don Pianta's articles of food when nobody was looking!"

"What are you talking about!?" Bow exclaimed, growing larger herself as she seemed to forget about her headache and put all her energy behind defending herself. "In case you didn't know Little Mr. _Detective_, I was in the casino the whole time last night! You can even ask around, I'm pretty sure everyone saw me there!"

"Oh, but you are a _Boo_, are you not!?" Pennington responded, growing even larger than before and causing the group just behind him to step back, growing quite nervous about the situation as everyone in the background wondered what in the world was going on. "As a Boo, you can easily turn yourself invisible whenever you please, as you demonstrated for all of us mere moments ago! You could have slipped off last night around the time of death! Not to mention you were late upon arriving at the scene of the crime, and your spirits were quite high! Trying to drown away your sins I presume!?"

"You know _Mr. Detective Guy_, you're not all that innocent yourself!!" Bow shot back, growing appropriately larger as Pennington seemed to come to a sudden loss of words.

"..."

The Bumpty immediately dropped back down to his original size, appearing quite confused as he looked up at Bow, who glared down at him with fierce eyes.

"What do you mean?" he asked with a small voice, his heart pounding as he worried about what Bow might say.

"Just look at you!" Bow began, retaining her size as her anger was still passionate enough to maintain it. "You point the finger at anybody you can even when nothing at all suggests that any specific person did it!"

Pennington slightly shrunk in size.

"I mean, it's not like I've never heard of you before! You call yourself a detective, but all you are is the curator of Poshley Sanctum! Detective work is just a hobby of yours! And it obviously shows, because you're completely incompetent and every word that comes out of your mouth is only ever meant to accuse anybody that's not you!"

Pennington shrunk even more.

"Who's to say that _you_ didn't kill Don Pianta!? Maybe you only took up this case so willingly so you'd look innocent! But really, nobody even knows a thing about what the heck _you_ were doing yesterday! Nobody even saw you on the train until right after the Don died! How do any of us know that this whole detective thing isn't just some lame cover to save your own butt!?"

"_Okay, I confess!!_" Pennington's squeaky voice piped up just before he grew back to normal size and Bow shrunk down to her original self. Everyone seemed to raise an eyebrow simultaneously as Pennington dropped to his knees and began to cry profusely into his flippers. "It's was me! (I think...) I killed Don Pianta! (Maybe...)"

...What?

That seemed to be the collective thought of just about everyone that rested within earshot of Pennington's shout, which included all but Toad, Daisy, Yoshi, and the conductor. Wario, Waluigi, and Popple were watching the spectacle from the front of the building, quite amused, as Chef Shimi and the waitress both watched from the window of the restaurant, having heard the commotion even from all the way in there.

"I confess to the whole murder! (Probably...)" Pennington continued, crawling over to the front of the cop and holding his hands together behind his back, waiting to be cuffed as the officer stared at him incredulously. "Please, I give myself up! Just take me away so I may never harm another life for the rest of my years!"

"Pennington old bean, you didn't really kill Don Pianta did you?" Toadsworth asked, utterly confused about the situation, just as everyone else was. Pennington simply bowed his head and let his flowing tears drop to the ground without resistance.

"I...I don't know?" he answered, stuttering slightly and only confusing those around him even more. "I don't remember whether or not I did...but, if I did, I want to be locked up for good!"

Bow couldn't help but smile mischievously as she observed this, obviously pleased with herself for getting the annoying penguin to turn himself in. Nobody was totally convinced that he actually did it though, and Mario soon spoke up, talking with a nervously confounding voice.

"Pennington, if you actually did do this, then uh...why?"

"...I'm not sure?" he answered questionably, not helping the situation at all. "If I did kill him though, it was most certainly for the best of reasons! But nothing could justify murder! Nothing at all!"

"Okay, this is getting a little ridiculous," the officer finally spoke up, having obviously grown fed up with the whole situation. "First we had this Luigi guy pinned as the murderer, then you blame this Boo woman, and now the very person who called me to arrest the first guy is confessing, but without showing any clear reason as to why or how. I can't exactly afford to be wasting my time with matters like this."

The officer spun around and unlocked the back door to his police vehicle. Luigi was let free, allowed to exit the back of the car and his restraining handcuffs removed by the disgruntled authority. He was embarrassed about having to be out in front of everyone in only his limited print Fire Flower briefs (the only clothes he wore to bed, which he was violently dragged out of by the policeman), but being out of that car was an infinitely more relieving feeling than anything he'd ever felt before.

The cop soon opened up the driver side door and leaned against against it, looking at everyone as he donned a pair of sunglasses.

"Look, this is a very serious case," he began with a stern voice. "There's a killer somewhere on this train. This isn't a situation to be taken lightly. Now, you two detective types," he spoke to Mario and Pennington specifically, "You guys need to get your acts straight and find out who this person is before you reach Poshley Heights. We need to arrest this person as soon as possible. If they get off the train without being intercepted, they could escape, and who knows what might happen after that. So please you guys...just stop messing around and find out who did this."

With that, the officer climbed into his car and drove off, leaving behind the group as they simply watched him leave. The silence didn't last for very long however, for Peach, shedding a slight blush, soon reminded Luigi that he was wearing nothing but his tidy whities.

"Oh mama-mia," he muttered in embarrassment before covering himself as best he could and rushing off back into the train. As Luigi ran off to go clothe himself, Mario approached Pennington with a questioning look on his face. The penguin was still on the ground, not exactly crying anymore, though tears still rolled down his body, but not looking completely well either.

"What was all that about?" Mario soon asked, causing Pennington to look up at him silently, then over at Bow, who seemed to be staring at Mario, waiting for him to turn his attention away from the Bumpty for a moment.

"It was nothing at all!" Pennington quickly rebounded, hopping onto his feet and lifting his magnifying glass, completely back to his normal self in the matter of half a second. "You see, despite my love for all things mysterious...I never could perform very well under pressure," Pennington explained in a slightly quieter voice so only Mario may hear him. "I simply panicked when she started accusing me like that. But, no matter! I have recovered, and I'm quite raring to reopen this investigation!"

Well that was good to hear. Maybe.

"Good. So, can I have that feather back?" Mario asked, causing Pennington to shake his head immediately, denying him his request. Mario's eyebrows furrowed slightly as Pennington gave his reason for choosing to keep it.

"I agreed to let you keep the thermometer, so it's only logical I keep this feather. An eye for an eye they say. Except, in this case, a broken thermometer for a pink feather."

And so, Pennington threw open his tote bag and tossed the feather inside, snapping it shut immediately before looking back at Mario with a sense of newfound determination in his eyes. "This case grows ever more serious with each passing moment 'Mario', and it is up to us to crack it before it's too late. I'm still quite convinced 'Luigi' is our culprit, but, as the kind officer so eloquently put it, we must come up with a solid conclusion swiftly. We cannot let this killer roam free!"

Lifting his magnifying glass up to his eye once more, Pennington departed for the train, making sure to give Bow an analyzing stare as he past her by. It was obvious that she wanted to do something quite horrible to him as he got close to her, but the energy she felt during the argument had simply dissipated, leaving her fatigued and with a pounding headache once more.

Once the Bumpty was inside, Bow promptly forgot about him and floated over to Mario immediately.

"Now that all that mess is over...Mario dear, I request your attendance in my cabin," she spoke up as regally as she could, trying her best to ignore her slightly impaired situation. Peach overheard her make this remark though and immediately turned her attention to the situation, her cheeks slightly burning as she gazed at Bow questioningly.

"Excuse me, but why exactly do you have such an interest in meeting with Mario alone?" she asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide her jealousy as Bow looked over at her with an uninterested glance.

"Do I need a reason?" Bow responded rather rudely, causing Peach to recoil by rearing her head back slightly and allowing her blush to become a deeper red, her eyes seeming to grow narrower as she stared at Bow incredulously. "I'm interested in seeing him alone simply because I'm interested in him."

Well, talk about frank. Mario couldn't deny that, for whatever reason unknown to him, he had some kind of charm when it came to women though. It was quite common for the ladies that he traveled with in the past to become infatuated with him on one level or another. He didn't exactly know why, but it didn't really matter, for he remained faithful to Peach no matter what the situation. So, as Bow floated within mere inches of Mario's face with a smirk and said, "I know he'd like to visit me no matter what the reason, right?", he was honestly able to answer to the affirmative without giving Peach due reason to worry. Besides, Bow was a Boo. What could happen?

Still though, Peach couldn't help but feel apprehensive as the Boo gave Mario a quick peck on the cheek and headed back toward the train. She stepped over to him immediately, her angered blush persisting, and ensured that Mario wouldn't give in to any of her possible wiles during his time with her.

"Don't be in there for too long," Peach insisted worriedly after Mario ensured her that everything would be fine with a smile on his face. "There _is_ an investigation taking place after all. It wouldn't do to waste any time."

"Everything will be fine Peach," Mario ensured with a light chuckle, grabbing on to her hands as he spoke. The actions seemed to calm her down a fair bit, and she soon found herself smiling as well. It was as if, only a little while ago, Mario wasn't angry at her for not believing that his brother was an innocent in the whole investigation. But, after seeing what just happened, he was pretty sure that neither her nor Toadsworth were quite so convinced that Luigi did it anymore. Pennington was the one who accused him after all, and it was evident that Mario's word was much more trustworthy than the Bumpty's.

After a moment of silence wherein Mario and Peach simply held each others' hands, Mario parted them and began to head inside, telling Peach that he would see her at dinner. Hopefully, then, they would have a bit of time to just sit down and talk instead of focusing on that whole mess of the murder. For the time being though, he figured he may as well go ahead and visit Bow. He knew she would be bugging him about his absence soon if he didn't.

The moment he entered the cool air of the train's first car, he had to jump right back outside in order to avoid a speeding blue blur that whizzed by and crashed quite harshly into the far wall of the car. Mario poked his head back inside to see what in the world just happened, and soon discovered the door to Bow's room sliding shut and Pennington falling onto his back after his harsh faceplant with the wall. He must have been snooping around again, since he found a second suspect to focus on.

Mario thought the Bumpty was knocked unconscious after the impact, but, after several moments of dead stiffness, Pennington stood up, dusted himself off, and entered the nearest cabin as if nothing had happened.

Wait a minute, wasn't he going into Toad's room now? That's what the conductor said right? That Toad and Bow were staying in the first car? So what could be in Toad's room that would be of interest to him?

Mario stepped over to the last cabin in the car, where Pennington entered. As he went along though, he realized that the car actually have three separate cabins within it. And, once he knocked on the door of the furthest one and asked the penguin within, he learned that that room was, indeed, his. If that was true, why didn't the conductor say anything before? Maybe he just forgot. Heck, Mario didn't even notice that Pennington was missing from the list himself when the conductor finished. Eh, whatever. He should probably get over to Bow's room before she noticed he wasn't there yet.

"What did you want to talk about?" Mario asked as he entered Bow's room. The Boo smiled brightly at him immediately before briefly disappearing and reappearing behind him, turning to close the door before gently urging her visitor to take a seat on the couch.

"Nothing in particular," she answered sweetly, floating over to Mario's side happily as she settled down next to him. "I was just feeling a little lonesome, being in here all by myself. I wanted some company."

Mario was happy that she came to him for some company, though it was apparent she didn't know anybody else on the train anyway. It then dawned on him that her usual, faithful companion was actually missing in action.

"Where's Bootler?" Mario asked, causing Bow to give off a quiet scoff in return.

"He was getting on my nerves. So I left him to look after the mansion while I visited my sisters to get away from him," she answered simply, before letting out a very small, regretful sigh. "It probably wasn't the greatest idea to go off without him though. When I'm left alone for too long, I tend to lose controls of my inhibitions a bit..." she admitted, sounding a fair bit shamed as she floated closer to Mario, almost resting on his lap, and leaned against him snugly. "I'm so embarrassed about last night. I just couldn't stop drinking once I got started. I hope I didn't do anything too foolish in front of you."

"You didn't," Mario lied, consoling Bow a fair bit as she nuzzled herself closer to him and allowed a smile to come to her lips. Mario could only hope she wasn't trying to actually do anything that would justify Peach's worry, but, as he would soon find out, she really only wanted him there for a very simple reason.

"Can you just stay here with me for a while?" she asked, her eyes already closed as she used Mario as something of a pillow on which to rest her still-aching head. "After the way I acted last night, I don't want to risk being alone anymore."

Mario couldn't help but smile at this, and he soon found himself wrapping a consoling arm around the Boo. It was surprising to recall that, just a short while ago, Mario was convicting her of having something to do with the killing, but, thankfully, at least she never saw that part of the whole scene that took place outside. Or, if she did, she'd quickly forgiven him for what he'd done. He couldn't help but wonder though. _Did_ Bow have something to do with the murder? She didn't exactly defend herself so much outside as she did point the finger right back at Pennington. But that didn't really mean anything did it?

Though on the surface, he held quite the casual conversation with Bow, he had to keep in mind that he was still on the clock for figuring out who killed Don Pianta.


	6. Day Two: Early Friday Night

**Finally, a new chapter in our little murder mystery is being posted!**

_..._

**Yeah, Wimpzilla's out visiting his grandparents, who don't have any Internet connection.**

_..._

**Wish him luck everyone.**

**

* * *

**

Day 2 - Early Friday Night

The minutes shared between Mario and Bow were relatively silent after the bulk of their conversation was through, save a mention or two of the beauty of the sunset outside or the lovely decor of the train. Bow seemed to take an interest in the interior decorator that dressed the train the way they did. She had to hire them to fancify the mansion sometime.

"We really should clean the mansion up soon," Bow commented with a long yawn tailing her sentence. She was already quite comfy on Mario's lap, opting to keep her eyes closed as she felt herself drifting back off to sleep. "It's so dreary these days... So many cobwebs and so much dust..."

"Should I go?" Mario asked quietly, taking notice of Bow's fatigue as she turned towards him and buried her face against his chest snugly. "You look pretty tired."

"No way," Bow muttered in response unconvincingly. "What kind of person...wakes up and goes right back to sleep? I'm perfectly fine. And you're not going anywhere..."

Mario shed a small smile and looked out the window of the cabin, letting Bow live in denial and have her way for a little while longer. He found himself quickly taking interest in the return of two friends he hadn't seen on the premises in a fair while, one bounding down the steps of the station with a smile as the other gave a disinterested gaze straight ahead.

"'Why would the switch be in the basement' you said." Yoshi mocked matter-of-factly, his smug smile only serving to further put off Daisy. "'That would be _waaay_ too obvious' you said. I told you right off the bat, 'Hey, let's take that elevator', but you had to be like 'Nooo, the switch is definitely in a super safe place, deep inside the station.'"

"Okay Yoshi, I get it," Daisy responded flatly, rubbing her shoulder in pain as she let out a sigh. "You were right, I was wrong, blah blah blah, let's just be glad we found it okay?"

"Well someone's a little crabby," Yoshi commented happily as he calmed down a little and focused his sights on the engineers they were approaching. "It's not my fault you tripped and fell right into that Pokey you know."

"Well, we found the switch," Daisy informed the nearest engineer, completely ignoring Yoshi at that point. The Toad immediately stopped what he was doing and looked over at the lowered bridge. It was evident he hadn't even noticed that the thing was down in his haste to fix the engine. "How are the repairs going?" Daisy continued as the engineer looked back at the pair.

"Eh, it's the best we could do with what we have," he responded with a sigh as he returned his attention back to the engine and his fellow coworkers, who'd all begun to rest after a job somewhat satisfactorily done. "That's not saying much though. The ol' girl can move again, but she won't be able to take high speeds all that well until a more thorough repair job is given to her. So there's likely to be a slight delay in the arrival time at Poshley Heights."

"How 'slight' are we talking about?" Daisy asked, the irritation in her voice ringing as she continued to rub her agitated shoulder. The engineer couldn't help but take notice of the action as he gave his answer.

"I'd say about...oh, early Sunday morning," he responded, lightening the spirits of the eavesdropping Mario. A delay just meant that much more time for him to prove his brother's innocence. Talk about a lucky break. Back outside, the conductor stepped forward toward Daisy and inspected her shoulder. He could see that the fabric in her clothing was harshly torn at the point of agitation, and her skin appeared to have turned bright red underneath. Both Yoshi and Daisy stared at the engineer in silence as he inspected the wound. "What happened?"

"We were looking for the switch over there," Yoshi began immediately, pointing toward the horizon at the raised platform next to the station building, "And Daisy didn't notice we were on a platform and fell all the way down there," he continued, moving his pointing finger in order to help the engineer visualize just what happened, "Where a Pokey just happened to be hanging around. Her shoulder caught on one of it's spines and jammed right into it," he finished, punctuating 'jammed' by punching a fist into an open palm and making the listening engineer wince.

"Wow. That's pretty terrible," he muttered as Daisy gave an agitated sigh and began to head toward the train's entrance. "Um, you might wanna get that checked out ma'am!" the engineer shouted after her as she returned to the cool comfort of the train, away from the threat of raised platforms and Pokeys forever.

She let out another sigh as she set off on her way down the train, moving away from the room in which Mario had only just noticed that Bow hadn't said a word for the last few minutes. He gazed down at his lap and, upon observing her closed eyes and her peaceful, slow breathing, he deduced that she had, indeed, fallen back to sleep.

Taking great care not to disturb her, Mario carefully lifted the resting Boo up, allowing his leg to swing out from under her. He reached for a nearby pillow and placed it where his leg used to be before slowly lowering Bow down onto it. Luckily she didn't notice the switch, allowing Mario to head for the room's door in silence.

He lightly slide the door shut upon exiting into the blue-walled compartment and turned to head off down the train. He could barely take a step forward though before hearing a quiet, delicate sneeze ring out from behind him. Mario halted and looked over his shoulder immediately to find Peach standing just behind him, one hand resting on the door leading to the engine room as the other continued to cover her nose. She stared right back at Mario worriedly, appearing to have frozen stiff as a result of being caught.

"Bless you," Mario spoke up with a smile as he fully turned to face Peach, who shed a noticeable blush as both her hands clasped together in front of her torso and she looked toward the ground awkwardly.

"Th-Thank you," she responded softly before sniffling quietly.

"Is something wrong?" Mario asked, amused as he continued to smile at the increasingly anxious princess.

"No. Nothing's wrong at all," Peach stammered, shaking her head a bit too eagerly as she shot a glance back at the door leading into the engine room. "I. Just. Wanted to say hello to the train operator."

"But the operator's outside with the engineers," Mario pointed out with a playful smirk, taking pleasure in Peach's nervously widened eyes and she slowly turned back to Mario.

"So he is..." she muttered, though she honestly didn't know if that was true or not. The operator looked so much like all the engineers outside though, she didn't want to risk being caught in a blatant lie if Mario was actually right. A moment or two passed and she just noticed that clever smile lingering on Mario's face. It became quickly apparent that he was toying with her and wouldn't stop until he knew what exactly she was doing.

"Oh fine, you win," Peach sighed as she parted her hands and patted them against her sides in a huff before promptly folding them across her chest. "I was eavesdropping on you and Bow this whole time," she answered quickly, looking away from Mario once again as he stepped closer, his smile still persisting.

"You don't trust me at all do you?" he teased, causing Peach to scoff immediately as her blush deepened and she held her arms tighter to her chest.

"Of course I trust you. Why in the world wouldn't I?" she said defensively, though meekly. "I was just a little curious... And I don't exactly trust _her_."

With a chuckle, Mario employed his previously used method of grabbing Peach's hands in his own and looking into her eyes, comforting her somewhat as he ensured her once and for all that Bow, despite her abrasiveness and flirtatious nature, was a genuinely good Boo, and she was nothing more to Mario than a friend. Nothing she could ever do would cause Mario to stray. But, when he could see that his words didn't completely work to remove the anxious look on Peach's face, he came up with a plan that might help her realize just how devoted to her he was.

"How about this Peach," Mario began quietly as Peach continued to look at him expectantly. Granted this newfound time to help his brother, Mario was feeling quite a bit more adventurous and able to simply spend some time to unwind. And who better to do that with than Peach? "Tonight, let's just have some time to ourselves. None of this murder mystery business. No Bow. No distractions at all. Just you and me, and a dinner for the two of us. What do you say?"

Peach's spirits lifted the anxiety right off her face and her hands clasped onto Mario's with a new vigor, clearly excited about the thought of being able to truly spend some alone time with her beau for the first time since the trip started. "That sounds simply wonderful Mario," she responded happily, giving off the vibrant smile that Mario had begun to miss. It was the first time she appeared to be so effervescent for that entire trip.

"Great. Then let's meet in the dining car at eight," Mario stated with an agreeing nod from Peach in return, just before she came in to plant a soft peck on the tip of his nose. The plumber couldn't help but blush and felt tremendously compelled to return the kiss on a more scintillating area, but the sudden presence of a certain active senior made sure the moment was dead and gone forever.

"Your Highness, has Master Mario made his leave quite yet!?" Toadsworth's refined voice shouted from the other side of the door. "It's dreadfully hot in here without the air conditioner on! You know that sweat agitates the hairs in my ears and makes them unbearably itchy! And I can't scratch them because the sweat mixes with the wax, and that just creates a whole new mess to deal with!"

Peach only regretted not opening the door sooner as both she and Mario believed they heard possibly the worst moment killer to ever be spewed from anyone's mouth in the history of existence. Once Toadsworth burst through the pathway and began to pant as he welcomed the embrace of cool air, he instantly noticed that Mario was actually standing mere feet away and quickly regretted saying anything at all.

"Oh...Master Mario," he muttered, gathering himself as quickly as possible, incredibly embarrassed about the situation at hand. "Did you...hear everything I just said?" Mario nodded, still rather grossed out by what Toadsworth said as the old Toad cleared his throat and Peach stared out the window just behind him, wishing she were anywhere else at the moment. "Yes, well... I deeply apologize for that."

"It's okay," Mario ensured with a weak voice, obviously not convincing Toadsworth that it was okay at all. Knowing that his ear problems weren't exactly the most savory conversation piece to linger on, Toadsworth at least made a conscious effort to change the subject.

"By the way ol' chap, that was a fine show you put on out there. Gave that bumbling Bumpty fellow what for, eh?" Toadsworth congratulated, having missed his first opportunity to say anything courtesy of Bow's insistence to interject her way into things. Mario smiled immediately as his mind successfully wandered from sweat and earwax to his introduction of the pink feather into the investigation.

"Well, I had to do something," he spoke up, absently looking out the nearest window and at the location where Luigi was sitting in a police car just moments ago. "He came that close to actually getting my brother arrested. Luigi would have been gone by now."

"Quite right," Toadsworth mumbled, regretting his previous inactivity in the face of Luigi's perilous predicament. It felt terrible knowing that he came so close to letting such a stand-up fellow like that, a man to whom Toadsworth himself owed quite a lot, simply be arrested without any kind of resistance. "If it's any consolation ol' bean, I can now honestly say that I don't believe Luigi had anything to do with this heinous crime at all. It was silly of me to think otherwise for even a second."

"The same goes for me Mario," Peach finally spoke up, a look of genuine remorse on her face as she did so. "I'm so sorry I ever suspected Luigi of any of this. I know he would just never do something like this. He would never hurt a fly."

"Yes, I now believe it may very well be that Pennington chap himself!" Toadsworth affirmed before Mario could say a word in thanks. He was rather taken aback by the old Toad's sudden enthusiasm, for he'd went so far as to lift his cane and violently jab it in the general direction of Pennington's room down the hall. "Those points that the Boo lass pointed out seem quite plausible if you ask me. I'll certainly be keeping my eye on that blue 'detective' from this point forward!"

Mario took several moments to explain that it was still a bit too early to totally accuse anyone of the crime just yet. Obviously, Luigi was still the most likely suspect in most eyes considering that the conductor claimed he was the last to enter the Don's room, and the broken thermometer didn't help his case at all, not to mention he did have a plausible motive but, like Peach said, Luigi could never even bring himself to hurt a fly. Well, not intentionally at least. And Pennington, well, face it, he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box. Despite having no clear motive and nothing really pointing at him as the murderer, he went so far as to blatantly accuse himself of the death of Don Pianta right in front of everyone. While that could be considered a genius move (especially for him) that would serve to completely throw everyone off and have them ultimately discount him as the murderer, it could just as easily have been his own incompetence and lack of focus on facts that caused him to accuse himself. And Mario was willing to bet the latter was true.

As for Bow...well, Mario had to face it. To him, she was looking the most suspicious of anyone on the whole train at that point. She had a strong motive, and her personality certainly fit the crime itself; she was the type to retaliate against anyone who wronged her or anyone close to her. Her feather _was_ found at the crime scene, though she didn't have possession of her fan since the journey started. But still, she was a Boo. She could disappear and move wherever she pleased with great ease. Who knows what she could have been doing when nobody was looking. But Mario had to cling to the fact that she was indeed one of his best friends. And, though it was simply ideal thinking, he didn't want to think that anyone particularly close to him could have committed the crime.

As he made his speech, the trio took notice of the train's operator entering the car and excusing himself past them so he may return to his work station, proving that Mario's previous statement about the guy being outside actually was true. Soon after that, the conductor made his appearance, smiled and waved at the three of them, and exited the train to stand outside and begin his call.

"_Attention Passengers," _the operator began over the PA system._ "The train is now functional and we will continue to our destination, Poshley Heights. However, due to technical difficulties with the engine, we will be delayed until Sunday Morning. We apologize for any inconvenience._"

The announcement was briefly followed by the conductor's famous "ALL ABOARD!" warning to any passengers lingering outside of the train. And, immediately, everyone who had not yet come back aboard began to file in. While Mario opted to wait until everyone was back on to head off for his room, Peach and Toadsworth said their goodbyes and headed off for their own, but only after Peach confirmed that she would be in the dining car at eight o' clock. Mario smiled after her with a nod and, several moments later, after the main stream of passengers boarded the train, he began to head off for himself. But he couldn't get very far before a voice caught his attention.

"Hey there Mario."

Mario stopped in his tracks and turned around immediately to find Toad standing behind him, wearing a melancholic smile disguised as that of joy. Mario instantly remembered the conversation he had with the waitress earlier that day and immediately felt sorry about completely forgetting Toad's situation. The two of them had barely seen each other since the journey started, and right then was the perfect time to finally have a real talk.

"Hey Toad," Mario greeted in return with an unintentionally soft voice. Toad immediately detected that something was wrong, and his face reflected his thoughts as he raised an eyebrow and his smile grew slightly weaker. "How are you doing?"

"Heh, well, I'm still a little shaken up by this whole murder thing," Toad answered with a quieter voice as he stepped over toward the door to his cabin. "You know, I just realized we never actually got to catch up since this whole mess began. Wanna come in for a while?"

"Of course," Mario agreed immediately as Toad slid the door open and allowed him into the room. As expected, it looked pretty much exactly the same as Bow's room next door for the most part, but Mario couldn't help but notice something resting atop Toad's nightstand. Taking interest in the clutter of objects, he found that they were actually flowers. They were quite colorful and dramatic, the vibrant orange and blue petals jutting out from the stems rather sharply and at drastic angles. They didn't look like any flower Mario had ever seen before, but their sharp beauty couldn't be ignored. He carefully lifted the bunch of them up to his nose and took a quick whiff, only to be met with the smell of wax and plastic.

"Heh, yeah, those are fake," Toad spoke up as he took a seat on the nearby sofa and smiled at Mario as he set them back down onto the nightstand. "They're called Birds of Paradise. They're Toadette's favorite."

"How come you got fake flowers?" Mario asked as he took a seat on Toad's bed. Toad absently looked out the nearby window and sunk back into the sofa a bit as he answered.

"I wasn't sure when I'd be able to see Toadette again, and those flowers aren't really that easy to find," he began to explain. "So, when I saw them, I got them immediately. I made sure they were fake so they wouldn't die before I got them to her. A bunch of dead flowers isn't exactly an uplifting sight."

Mario easily detective a strong hint of sadness in Toad's voice as he spoke of the flowers and Toadette. The thought of being delayed to see her probably wasn't helping him out too much. It was understandable that he'd want to go and see her as soon as possible, especially considering the condition she was in. Before Mario could say anything though, Toad suddenly continued.

"Well, I guess seeing anything that's dead isn't really uplifting huh?" he added with a sad chuckle. "Whether it's something beautiful like flowers, or insignificant like a bug, or something we can relate to and love, like a person. Seeing anything die isn't very uplifting at all..."

Mario felt that Toad was getting at something here. Like he had to get something off his chest. The plumber remained silent as he allowed Toad to collect himself with a heavy sigh, and soon, the two were looking at each other eye to eye, Toad with an unconvincing smile on his face and Mario simply waiting for whatever had to be said.

"I'm sorry Mario, I'm probably bumming you out with all this," he apologized with another chuckle, prompting an immediate shake of the head from his guest. Mario wanted to know what was on Toad's mind, and he was willing to wait for as long as he had to in order to hear it. Thankfully, Toad didn't beat around the bush for very much longer. "See, Luigi wasn't the last person in Don Pianta's room. I was. I went in right after he left, and I...I was with Don Pianta when he was still alive... I...saw him die."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Mario asked confused, suspended between a state of shock and a sense of knowing at the same time. From what he gathered from the conductor earlier, he knew that Toad had entered the car after Luigi, but he didn't know that Toad actually entered the room before Don Pianta died. He thought the body was found after the guy was already gone.

"Well, you saw the way that Pennington guy was pouncing on everyone," Toad spoke up with a small voice, feeling defensive as he thought about the Bumpty detective. "I wanted to tell everyone what I saw, but I thought that, if I'd said anything then, he'd have turned everyone against me. Like he did to Luigi..."

Mario completely understood where Toad was coming from. Pennington may not have been the best detective on the block, but he was certainly a threat in his own right. He did almost get Luigi arrested after all, and with a minimal amount of evidence at that. If he had actually said anything last night, it could have very well been him in the back seat of that car.

"Well, we're alone right now," Mario informed Toad with a quiet, soothing voice as he clasped his hands together and hunched forward to rest his elbows on his legs. "Wanna tell me about what happened?"

Toad looked back out of the window before he gave his answer. Mario could tell he was pretty apprehensive about the entire situation, and he had a right to be. Seeing somebody die was a traumatic ordeal to go through, and Mario was investigating the case after all. How was Toad to know if he could trust him? How could Toad know that Mario wouldn't do the same thing to him that Pennington did to Luigi? He may have brought up the subject himself, but he was too scared to continue with it. And so, Mario decided to change the subject and focus instead on Toadette.

He reached over and grabbed the flowers off the nightstand once again, drawing Toad's attention away from the window and over at the man in red. "I know about what happened to Toadette." Toad's eyes widened immediately.

"You do?" Toad asked in surprise, prompting a brief nod from Mario.

"The waitress told me about it. Toadette's in the hospital right now because of a car accident?" Toad let out a deep sigh and sunk back even further into his seat, though his look of apprehension immediately relaxed and instead was replaced with melancholy.

"Yeah. She's been on life support for a few months now," Toad affirmed as he looked down toward the floor. "I got my job at the casino so I could pay for it. I tried to keep it quiet so I wouldn't worry anybody about it, but, well, the waitress managed to squeeze it out of me one day. I wish I hadn't have told her now."

"Toad, you know I would gladly help you if you needed money," Mario said firmly, placing the flowers back on the nightstand and looked at Toad intently. "Peach, Daisy, Toadsworth, all of us wouldn't think twice about helping if you asked."

"That's exactly what I didn't want people to tell me Mario," Toad retorted with a slight hint of agitation, continuing to refuse to look at Mario as he spoke. "It's not about money to keep her alive on some machine. Her condition only gets worse and worse every day, and there's nothing I can do about it. I just want her to wake up... I want her to open her eyes and talk to me like she used to. But all money can do is buy her more time. It can't make things right..."

"I'm just trying to let you know that you do have friends Toad," Mario spoke up, quieting Toad down quickly. "You know we'll always be there for you if you need us. We want to be there for you. And when I ask you about Don Pianta's death, I'm not accusing you of anything. You know something that nobody else does, and I need that information to figure out who's behind this crime. I'm not Pennington. I won't suddenly turn on you and accuse you of this whole thing without a very solid reason."

Mario couldn't tell whether or not Toad appreciated the subtle turn in the conversation from Toadette to Don Pianta, but he did seem to respond as Mario hoped he would. Letting out a sigh as a sign that he was giving in to Mario's persistence, Toad decided he may as well follow through with the conversation that he started and tell Mario just what happened the previous night...

Knock knock knock.

"Sir? Mr. Pianta?" Toad spoke up timidly, peeking into the room, for the door was pretty much open as he simply opted to knock on the wall to let Don Pianta know he was present. The Don glanced over at the door, his mostly empty drink in hand as he observed Toad gazing in at him. He set the drink down and immediately motioned for Toad to come in.

"What's all dis about peekin' around corners at me? You wanna come in, come in," he insisted as Toad stepped inside slowly and closed the door behind him. He was never entirely sure whether or not Don Pianta was actually happy about him being there, his tone never gave away any hint about it, but the look on his face seemed to suggest that he was somewhat disturbed about something. As Toad walked in though, he quickly erased the expression and attempted to put on something a bit more neutral.

"Did you enjoy your drink Sir?" Toad asked as he took a seat across from Don Pianta and noticed that the martini glass was pretty much empty. Don Pianta grew silent for a short moment as he simply looked down at the glass indifferently.

"Eh," he muttered with a shrug. "It was alright. Not da best I ever tasted, but not da worst either.

"Oh...I see," Toad responded, disheartened by the Don's blatant indifference to the drink. He guessed it obviously didn't do much to help persuade his boss towards the promotion he went to converse with him about.

"Well hey, don't sound so down about it," Don Pianta spoke up in an attempt to console Toad after remembering that the waitress told him Toad made the drink. "I just got what one might call 'highly refined tastes'. I've had drinks from all over da world. Yours wasn't terrible or nuttin', just, ya know, average. Which is fine."

That really didn't do much to help Toad's self esteem. But, thankfully, Don Pianta quickly changed the subject.

"But anyway, now dat you're here, I believe we've got some things to discuss between the two of us," Don Pianta said firmly, changing the mood swiftly from that of lightheartedness to something quite a bit more serious. "Particularly 'bout your position in the casino."

"My...position, Sir?" Toad asked, his voice obviously shaken as he felt several beads of sweat form on his brow. "What about my position...?"

"The fact dat you ain't deservin' of makin' and servin' drinks no more," Don Pianta answered, sitting back on his couch as he clasped his hands together in front of him. Toad's heart threatened to pound right out of his chest as the Don continued. He had no idea that he was just about to receive some very good news, but Don Pianta decided to string him along just a little longer. "I've been watchin' you lately, an' I can't help but notice that you ain't fit for your position no longer. But, instead, I think it's time for me to..."

"...Sir?" Toad asked worriedly as the Don came to a halt in his speech immediately and he suddenly clasped his stomach groaned in openly apparent agony. Toad slowly got to his feet and took a step forward toward the Don, just before the orange Pianta doubled over in pain and quickly crashed to the floor. "Sir!"

"Somethin'...ain't right..."

Toad knelt down and tried his best to sit Don Pianta up against the foot of the sofa, where the ailing Don would find himself speaking his very last words.

"Toad...I...made a mistake... I...I shoulda..."

The Don suddenly winced in pain and fell forward once again, sweating profusely as he landed on Toad's supporting shoulder. The distressed server tried his best to keep Don Pianta talking, but his boss found himself enshrouded in so much pain that he couldn't bring himself to speak through it all.

"What's going on?" Toad asked in fear, pushing Don Pianta back up against the sofa once again. Once he did so however, he found that the man had stopped moving altogether, staying completely limp as Toad remained the only thing that kept him up in the sitting position. His eyes had closed, his breath had come to a stop, and, after placing a hand over his chest for a few moments, Toad found that the man's heartbeat was slowing to nothing but a faint pulse. The Don was slipping into death at an alarming rate, and Toad found himself panicking immediately.

"Sir, please! Move, talk, say something to me! What's going on!? What's happening to you!?"

Nothing. Toad stepped back, and, once again, Don Pianta fell forward, not moving, not breathing, not doing anything. He was dying.

Toad didn't know what to do. He simply continued to step back for several moments, until he bumped into the wall right next to the door. Regaining his composure and remembering that he had to do something to help his boss, he immediately slammed the cabin door open, exited into the hallway, and ran for the casino as fast as he could. But, as he suspected before he ever even left the room, the Don was already dead...

Toad was noticeably shaking in his seat as he finished his tale, remember the sheer horror of the death he was forced to witness. Why did he have to bear witness to such a gruesome event? It was mortifying. Scarring. And Mario was genuinely sorry that he had to make Toad repeat the story for him, but, from it, he could finally confirm one thing at least: the Don definitely died due to poisoning.

And now, despite his reluctance to make Toad think of the situation further, Mario had to ask several questions.

"I know it's hard to think about, but could you answer a few questions about what you saw in his room for me?" Mario asked softly, prompting a brief nod from Toad in return. He didn't look too eager about it, but he figured he may as well keep going as long as he was recounting details. "First, when you entered the room, did you notice if Don Pianta had touched his steak at all?"

Mario had already seen that the steak wasn't cut into at all, but one could never be too sure.

"I don't think so," Toad answered quietly, trying to calm his nerves as the train suddenly jolted forward. It had been quite a while since all the guests boarded, but the train only just began to leave the station. They must have made a few last minute inspections of the engine before deciding to head out. "He finished the drink I made for him, but none of his food was touched at all. Which kind of makes me wonder why he drank it so fast if he thought it was just average..."

Mario couldn't help but wonder that very same thing, but at least one point was made clear: the only thing that could have possibly been poisoned was definitely the drink.

"Do you remember seeing a ring on the Don's hand while you were talking to him?"

Toad appeared to think for a while before giving his answer. He didn't really pay much attention to the Don's hand, but, once he thought about it...

"No. I didn't," he answered rather confidently. "I don't know if he took it off before I went in there or something, but I didn't see it."

Really...? Why would the Don take it off though? Because he was about to eat? Well, whatever the reason, Mario now knew that it was gone from his hand before he died.

Discounting the ring incident, figuring it was tucked away into the nihtstand or something in the Don's room, Mario recounted the times the train's conductor gave him earlier and decided to ask Toad about something relating to that.

"How long do you think it was between the time you went into Don Pianta's room and the time you returned after going to get everyone?"

It would have been perfectly plausible if Toad didn't have a clue. Thinking about elapsed time wasn't exactly at the forefront of one's mind when someone was dying right before their eyes. Still though, he took a few moments to think about it, and eventually gave Mario as exact of an answer as he could give.

"I really don't know, but...I think I was only in the room for about a minute a half..." Toad answered, thinking over the instance very carefully as he answered. "We talked for about...I dunno, about a minute before he started to um...you know. I'd say about thirty or forty seconds passed between the time he first collapsed and the time I ran to go get help. By the time I got back? Um...I think that was about an extra minute or so. So...about two and a half minutes?"

Two and a half minutes. The conductor said he was gone exactly two minutes and thirty-three seconds to clean up the mess in the baggage hold. So only three seconds of error between the two times... Toad's story fit in perfectly.

Mario wold be lying if he said that he didn't initially believe that Toad could have committed the crime. He was truly the last person in Don Pianta's room before he died, and it was his drink that turned out to be poisoned, but not much else seemed to point him out. For one, why in the world would he want Don Pianta dead? He needed the money he got from that job in order to pay for Toadette's life support. Without that money, what would he be able to do? And besides, he seemed to be genuinely shaken up about the whole ordeal as it was. The image of him, appearing small as he gazed out the window at the moving scenery, reminded Mario of his own little brother. And, just as he believed in his little brother, Mario believed in Toad. He had a lot on his shoulders after all, and adding suspicion of murder to his load wasn't going to help him at all. And so, Mario decided he should probably end their chat there.

"Thanks a lot for talking with me Toad," Mario said eventually as he rose to his feet. "What you had to say cleared up a lot of things for me, and gave me several more things to think about. I'll just let you be for now, alright? Hopefully, next time we talk, it can be about something that doesn't have to do with this mess at all."

"I hope so too," Toad responded as he attempted to put on another smile as Mario headed for the door to leave. Before he could open it up though, Toad decided to add, "Actually, thank you. It kinda felt good to be able to confide in someone."

Mario stopped and looked over his shoulder at Toad, shooting him a warm smile just before placing a hand on the doorknob. "Anytime Toad."

With that, he turned back to the door and slid it open. However, waiting for him just on the other side (not surprisingly) was the familiar figure of the blue Bumpty, who stood frozen in the position he'd assumed before Mario opened the door; the side of his head pressed against thin air and his flippers resting on either side of it, holding onto nothing. Both Mario and Toad simply stared at him for several seconds in awkward silence.

"I...did not deduce you would be opening the door quite so soon," Pennington defended weakly as Mario sighed and shook his head. "Did you know you two are devilishly quiet talkers? I could hardly hear a thing from out here."

Good. Mario unceremoniously pushed Pennington aside as he closed the door behind him and began to head off down the hall without a word. Pennington, of course, made sure he wouldn't get away quite so easily.

"Whoa, what's the hurry there my fellow detective?" he spoke up, rushing over to Mario and bringing him to a stop before he could get too far. "What did you two talk about in there?"

"What concern is it of yours?" Mario asked, already exasperated by the Bumpty's presence. Pennington may have been a helpful distraction earlier, but he was still annoying as all get out.

"Well, I know I most _certainly_ heard my name before the two of you grew unhearably silent," Pennington answered, rubbing the bottom of his beak as he spoke. "You two wouldn't have been conspiring against me now would you? Attempting to off the penguin with the improbably large brain who came within moments of having your dearly beloved brother arrested? Yes, it would make sense. You are related to 'Luigi'. Toad is his coworker, thus probably his friend. You would hate to see him go now wouldn't you? And the most logical way to keep him safely out of jail would be to first get rid of me, so there would be no ingenious detective looking into him any longer. Hm? Am I right? Am I soon to be the next victim in your heinous _joint_ crime 'Mario'!? I'm willing to bet you're _all_ in the Mustache Mafia, aren't you!? You, 'Luigi', _and_ Toad! And now that your main target has been taken care of, you need to get rid of the biggest threat to your brother's safety! Yes, I'm willing to wager that the true culprit was not _a_ culprit, but rather, _three_ culprits! You, 'Luigi', and Toad, you triad of close-knit killers you!!"

Wow. Mario had to say, he was impressed. He doubted anyone else he'd ever met could take the simple mention of their own name and built it up to such a dramatic conclusion so quickly. If he wasn't so shocked by Pennington's sheer determination to make up such wild stories, he'd have denied everything that was just said immediately. Before Mario could say anything though, his brother's shrill voice rang out from the entrance to the car as a hysterical, wide eyed Luigi hurried over to the pair of detectives.

"Mario! The most terrible thing just happened!" he exclaimed wildly as he held the sides of his face and shook rather violently on the spot. Both Mario and Pennington immediately thought something happened to someone on the train. Perhaps even another murder... But they were both disappointed as Luigi began to elaborate. "I think someone else got into my room this morning! My single most important worldly possession is gone! It was stolen!"

Coming off his dramatic high, Luigi noticed that Pennington was standing right there, and, realizing that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to divulge any further details with him so nearby, Luigi pulled Mario a bit down the hall and whispered to him.

_"Someone took my diary."_

Mario couldn't help but let out a quiet scoff as soon as he heard this. "Luigi, you had me really worried."

"Well, you should be worried!" Luigi responded, tossing away his quiet voice as he looked at Mario pleading. "You have to find it! Please! I'd die if someone actually read it!"

"Read _what_ exactly?" Pennington interjected, stepping over to the two brothers, his magnifying glass now raised as he glared at his number one suspect critically. "Am I to assume that a book of some sort was taken from your cabin?"

"Um-" Luigi stammered, though that was all he could say before Pennington went further.

"But, if it was a simple book, why would you 'die' if someone were to read it? What would be so bad about possessing a book? Unless...it's a book you would obviously be ashamed of possessing in the first place!"

"Er-"

"Yes, one would assume that, if you hold this book with such high regard, you must obviously be quite the fan of it," Pennington continued as Mario began to wonder where this new journey was going to end up at. "And, if it embarrasses you so much, it must be a book that you are ashamed of liking. Or, maybe, a book that your demographic of middle aged, mustachioed men _shouldn't_ like at all."

"What are you-"

"Perhaps a book that is made for a completely _different_ audience than the one you fit into," Pennington went on without a hitch. "Like that of teenaged females who are all aflutter with raging hormones who want a kind of romance that they could most likely never hope to achieve in real life."

"Will you just-"

"That must be it! It's very clear! You, 'Luigi', are none other than a closet 'Twilight' reader aren't you, you insipid fanboy! 'Go Team Edward' yes!?"

"Wait!" Luigi demanded loudly, completely losing track of what the heck Pennington was going on about. And Mario, once again, was quite stunned at the penguin's ability to reach such a completely farfetched conclusion. "What the heck are you talking about!?"

With a smile, Pennington appeared to feel sympathy for Luigi for the first, and possibly only time since the trip began. He stepped over to the brother in green and patted him on the back in an attempt to comfort him.

"Don't be ashamed my dear 'Twilighter', for, you see, you and I share the same burden. For I, too, am a huge fan of the 'Twilight' series myself. I must say, something about Edward is simply stunning, don't you agree?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

That was possibly the most awkward silence any of the three men had ever been a part of as both brothers stared at Pennington in utter astonishment. The penguin noticeably began to sweat as he slowly realized his grave mistake and soon removed his hand from Luigi's back. He then cleared his throat.

"...Yes...um, well then..." he muttered as he slowly stepped away from the brothers. "I...suppose I'll leave the two of you alone for the time being as I...um...have some business to attend to..."

With that, he turned and walked down the hall to his room. As he opened up the door though, a broom suddenly fell out and whacked him on the head before falling to the floor limply. Pennington was quick to pick the tool up and hurry into the room, slamming the door behind him as Mario and Luigi simply stared on for a few more seconds.

"...Did he just hide in the broom closet?" Luigi asked after a very long pause. Mario had to admit that he was still a bit too surprised by everything he heard to answer right away, but, a few seconds later, he managed to get himself to speak.

"I...guess he did." With the rigorous shake of his head, Mario dispelled the situation that just played itself out before him and turned his attention to his brother. "Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for your diary Luigi."

"Oh, thanks Bro," Luigi sighed with relief as he brought his mind back to the real situation at hand. "I really appreciate it."

"Mario?" a voice called out from behind the brothers. Both of them turned simultaneously to see Bow emerging from her room, looking slightly groggy after her unplanned nap. She looked over at Mario with tired eyes before giving off a small smile and floating over to him. "There you are. Where did you go?"

"I just had to use the bathroom real fast," Mario lied, earning a suspicious look from his younger brother as Bow drew closer.

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought you'd simply abandoned me for a moment," she said in relief as she grabbed Mario's hand and began to pull him back toward her room. He didn't resist, but he went along reluctantly, leaving Luigi behind to wonder just what exactly was going on. As Bow insisted that he sit back down where he was before, Mario began to wonder if he was ever going to make his way out of that car.

* * *

**This looks like another multiparter eh? Leave it to Friday to be chock-full of all kinds of activity.**

_..._

**Hey, don't look at me like that. I know you wanted this chapter to cover a bit more, but I think it'd be best to cut it off here.**

_..._

**Oh come on, it's already over eight thousand words long! We need to give the readers a break!**

_..._

**...Whatever dude. ._.**


	7. Day Two: Late Friday Night

**Hey people sorry about the really late update.**

_Yeah, it's not like we have school to keep us busy or anything now. :P_

**Dude, the eff!?**

_What?_

**How did you vocalize that smiley face??**

_Smiley face? Oh you mean like this? :O_

**Yes, how did you do that?**

_It's not that hard. You give it a try._

**Alright, here it goes... "Happy Face"...**

_..._

**...**

_..._

**...**

_:(_

_

* * *

_

**Day Two - Late Friday Night**

"So then I was like, 'Hold on, are those shoes on sale!?', and girlfriend was all, 'Why would you care, you don't have feet to wear shoes with'. Can you believe that!?"

Mario simply smiled as Bow spoke, tossing in the ocassional nod to mix things up a bit, but, on the inside, he was groaning about being forced to listen as she recollected on the past few years they had been apart. Not a detail was spared as she rambled on, and she was approaching the three-hour mark of her endless stream of consciousness. Mario's patience was beginning to wear thin, and he was getting worried that he wouldn't make it to his dinner date in time if the talking kept up much longer.

"I mean, Lulla can be a total snob sometimes, but she's really the only true friend I have," Bow continued, completely ignoring the fact that she considered it a priviledge for others to gaze at her beauty; she didn't consider that snobbish though. She was simply 'aware of her own beauty'. "All of the other Boos just like me for my social status. Or they're too afraid to speak their mind around me. And Bootler doesn't really count, he's obligated to pretend to like me."

"Sounds rough." Mario responded rather absently, taking a glance at the clock across the room. He had an hour and a half left until his date with Peach. At the rate things were going, he'd never make it out of that room in time.

Bow looked over at the clock as well, then back at Mario. "Am I keeping you from something important Mario?" she asked with a slightly quieted voice, placing a hand on Mario's shoulder as he looked back at her. He hadn't realized that he'd looked at the clock so often that she'd notice.

"No. Not really," Mario responded nervously, not wanting to upset Bow, but wanting so badly to get out of there at the same time. "Well, you know, except this whole case about Don Pianta and everything. I still have several things to figure out."

"I understand. I know you have some things to take care of," Bow said, continuing to lower her voice almost to a whisper as she slowly glided her hand down Mario's arm, making him feel even more nervous than he already did. "You want to prove your brother's innocence and everything, and I've already taken up so much of your time today. I probably shouldn't hold you up much longer."

"I'm glad you understand," Mario muttered as Bow continued to glide her hand downward, every new inch that it covered more unnerving than the last. He wanted to get up and leave immediately, but Bow somehow seemed to keep him seated as she spoke up once more.

"But it's just been so long, you know?" she continued, appearing to ignore what Mario just said. "I lost my opportunity years ago, but, now that I see you again, I don't want it to slip away for a second time."

Her hand finally seemed to reach its destination, and Mario couldn't believe what she was obviously trying to do as his thigh came under her contact. He'd defended her so strongly in the face of Peach, only to learn that the princess's suspicions were correct. Bow didn't exactly have the purest of intentions in her mind when she forced him to stay in her room. And he knew immediately that he had to get out of there, quickly.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom!" Mario spoke up immediately, destroying the mood as he hastily stood from his seat and sped to the door. Bow simply stared over at him, dumbfounded by his sudden eagerness to leave.

"What? But you just went a few hours ago," she noted in slight confusion as Mario grabbed the handle of the door.

"Well, uh, you know. Weak bladder." Mario responded with a stuttered smile and a small shrug before jutting open the door and exited into the hallway briskly. He was pretty sure he'd have to do his best to avoid Bow for at least the rest of the night. He honestly never expected her to try something like that though. He thought-

"Ah!" Luigi shouted out as Mario crashed into him and sent both of them tumbling to the ground. Mario landed on his stomach and Luigi slammed down on his rear and immediately hissed at the pain, feeling he may have broken his tailbone. "Owwww... Geez Bro, what's the rush?" he whined as he rubbed his posterior. Mario got to his feet and rubbed his head, slightly dazed after banging it against the ground.

"Mario?" Bow's voice piped up from within her room. "Was that you? Are you okay out there?"

Without a word, Mario grabbed Luigi by the back of his collar and dragged him to the nearest door. Luigi squirmed and struggled as he tried to figure out what the heck his brother was doing, but he soon found himself confined in a cramped, dimly lit room filled with brooms and various other cleaning agents and devices. He got to his feet clumsily, knocking a broom from one wall to another and causing a racket as he asked his brother what he was trying to do.

Mario quickly jammed his palm against Luigi's face, not paying attention to what he was covering, but hoping he'd successfully targetted his brother's lips. When Luigi's further words became muffled, he figured he was successful and just hoped that things would remain silent enough until the coast was clear.

"Mario?" the brothers could hear Bow's voice call out from the hallway. Thankfully, Luigi soon caught on that Mario was trying to avoid her and willingly remained silent. "Maaariooo," Bow persisted, her voice indicating that she was just on the other side of the door now. "Where are you? I thought I heard you out here."

She remained silent for a moment before continuing, her voice slightly more agitated now.

"I know you don't have bladder problems Mario. Seriously, I've seen you go days without ever once excusing yourself to use a facility... Mario?"

As she spoke, her voice subtly grew softer and quieter. Eventually, the hallway had fallen completely silent. Mario was fairly sure she'd gone into the next car over, but opted to remain silent for a little while longer before relaxing.

A good thirty seconds passed before he finally removed his hand from Luigi's mouth and let out an inward sigh. He felt terrible about flat out ditching Bow like that, but he had to get out of there before she took things a step too far. He felt confined now though. If Bow was off in the next car, he wouldn't be able to so easily get over to his room and prepare for his date. Why did things have to be so complicated for him all the time?

"What's going on Bro?" Luigi asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at Mario with a raised eyebrow. "How come we're hiding in the broom closet?"

"It's a long story," Mario sighed, turning his back to the door and leaning against it. He definitely wasn't prepared to see a third party in that room once he looked down toward the floor.

"Well, 'tis a story I would love to hear," Pennington spoke up, giving Mario a suspicious look from his sitting position on the floor, a worn copy of "New Moon" held in his flippers. Luigi jumped in surprise before whipping around to see the penguin sitting there. "It's quite rude you know, invading ones personal space like this. But please, why exactly are you in here?"

"Like you've never invaded somebody's personal space before!" Luigi retorted, pointing an accusatory finger at Pennington, remembering the penguin's invasion into his own room that morning.

"Why are _you_ still in here?" Mario countered, causing the Bumpty to scoff as he held up his book without thinking.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm reading Twi..." He then realized his mistake and, faster than the speed of light, stashed his treasured book away in his tote bag, retrieving his trusty magnifying glass in exchange. "I mean, investigating!" he quickly corrected, lifting the object to his eye as he proceeded to stare at the floor. "There are clues to be found in this broom closet you know!"

"Clues? What clues could you find in here?" Luigi asked, curious about the Bumpty's obviously eccentric sleuthing methods.

"Oh, clues are everywhere! Clues like... THIS BALL OF LINT!" Pennington bellowed, prompting an invisible trumpet chorus to play a triumphant tune in the background as he dropped to the floor to get a closer look at the ball of fluff in question, "Surely this suspicious sphere of filth comes from the origins of the most dastardly kind. The dastardly kind of dastardly that would be dastardly enough to kill our beloved, if not slightly dastardly himself, Don Pianta!"

"First the thunder and lightning last night, now an invisible chorus?" Mario muttered to himself as he looked around, confused. "How does he do stuff like that?" Luigi's head was busy spinning after the excessive use of the word "Dastardly".

Completely ignoring Mario's questioning mutterings, Pennington picked up the ball of lint and held it closed to his nostrils, inhaling deeply to intake its odor. He then plopped it into his mouth without a second thought, an act that made Luigi wretch immediately. A quick taste test confirmed his suspicions. "I estimate this ball of lint's age at around five hours. Give or take twenty minutes," he deduced, tossing the ball around in his mouth from cheek to cheek. Luigi looked as if he were about to pass out from disgust.

"Um... Pennyton?" he squeeked as Mario just barely realized what was going on. The brother in red let out a small sigh as he shook his head at the odd penguin.

"Pennington," the detective corrected shortly.

"Right... You do know that my co-worker, Wario, usually comes in here to pick his nose and fish lint out of his belly button in private, right?"

"Wario you say? Is he the grotesquely obese one that wears yellow?" Pennington asked, still sloshing the ball of lint around his mouth as he spoke with Luigi rather casually.

"...Yeah." Luigi confirmed weakly. He felt he was about to lose his lunch as Pennington continued to open his mouth widely and show off the not-so-fluffy ball he continued to juggle around with his tongue.

"Well then, it appears that my genius assumption of this lint's origin was spot on! That Wario fellow seems to be a dastardly one indeed!" Pennington announced, taking more pride than disgust in his discovery. He then stuck his free flipper into his mouth and began to pull the lint out, hair by wet hair, and place it within his tote bag. Luigi had to turn away to keep himself from getting sick and Mario quickly made sure to get back to the point.

"Pennington, I'm pretty sure you're not sitting in this room just to inspect balls of lint," Mario spoke up. "Or just to read 'Twilight'," he quickly added, causing Pennington to flinch in reponse.

"If I wasn't _investigating_, then what would I be doing in here exactly?" Pennington asked, obviously hinting that he wanted Mario to drop the embarassing book topic. Mario decided to counter the question with one of his own.

"What room are you staying in Pennington?" The penguin froze. He had no answer for this question, and Mario knew it. Thinking back to that morning, Mario remembered his conversation with the train's conductor. "I asked the conductor about everyone that's staying on the train for this trip. He detailed which car every passenger is staying in, but he never mentioned you at all."

"Really...?" Pennington said, a slight hint of worry slipping through his voice as he spoke. "Well...he must have just forgotten about me."

"But how could anyone forget about the penguin with the improbably large brain?" Mario asked, his voice laced with obvious sarcasm that Pennington took quite seriously. The detective did have a knack for leaving a very permanent impression on people, though almost never a very good one.

"You do present a point which I cannot possibly contest. My reputation preceeds me literally everywhere I tread foot," Pennington admitted quietly before letting out a sigh and looking Mario dead in the eye. "Alright then, I suppose there's no use in hiding it any longer. You're correct. I'm a stowaway."

"WHAT!?" the previously silent Luigi sudenly shrieked, shocking both Mario and Pennington as he whipped around and glared at the latter of the two. "You were about you get _me_ arrested when _you_ were committing a crime this whole time!?"

"Oh please, our situations are hardly comparable," Pennington retorted as he stared right back at Luigi through his magnifying glass. "I'm merely stowing away. You killed a man. I think it's obvious who deserves the punishment here."

"_I didn't_-oh, forget it," Luigi sighed, giving up before he wasted his breath over the issue any further. Pennington's mind wasn't going to change. It probably never would. But, thankfully, Mario steered the conversation back on track for a second time.

"We're talking about _you_ right now Pennington," he spoke up, turning Pennington's attention back to him. "I don't care that you think my brother killed Don Pianta, what you're doing is a crime in itself. I mean, why are you even stowing away anyhow? You managed to get an actual room last time I saw you."

"Your memory is quite accurate..." Pennington began slowly before letting out a sigh. It was odd seeing the penguin act sullen in comparison to his usual peppy, irritating personality. Mario didn't think he was very capable of much emotional depth, but he proved surprising on yet another occassion. "But please, you must understand, detective work doesn't always pay as handsomely as one might think. I recently put all my coins forth to fund a pilgrimage of sorts of sleuthing adventures all around the world, and I just returned from the last one on my scheduled list, which I have affectionately titled 'Pennington and the Treasure of Shiver City'. However, the pay was not exactly what I had in mind."

"'The Treasure of Shiver City'?" Luigi asked, suddenly interested in the topic at hand. It was obvious he was interested in this so called treasure and it's worth. Mario was ashamed to admit such a thing about his brother, but Luigi did have a tendency to become a bit too aware of things when money was involved. Which seemed odd because Luigi really wasn't a greedy person.

"Yes. But, suffice it to say, I received no malleable treasure of any kind. But I did rediscover one treasure that's always been close to home. One that I doubt I will ever cease to appreciate," Pennington responded whimsically before holding up his prized magnifying glass and gently kissing its slender wooden handle. Neither Mario nor Luigi knew what to think of that action, and neither felt that they really wanted to know.

"So you snuck aboard the train without paying?" Mario asked, quickly receiving a furious shake of the head as Pennington snapped out of his moment with his magnifying glass.

"Well, you see... Um, I-"

"I'm afraid we'll have no choice but to alert the authorites." Luigi said, taking pleasure in the fact that it was finally his turn to taunt Pennington with possibilty of arrest.

"PLEASE!" Pennington shrieked, falling to the ground just at Mario's feet, "You can't turn me in! I'm just a pathetic little bumpty with no where to go. I'm begging you, please don't tell a soul about this Luigi."

"..."

"..."

"...I think he's talking to you bro." Luigi whispered.

"Oh. Don't worry, I won't say anything." Mario said.

"You promise?" Pennington asked, who had now ceased his crying.

"Promise."

And with that little promise Pennington instantly regained his composure as if he was not groveling on the linty floor of the train's broom closet mere moments ago.

"Thanks 'Luigi', I could always count on you." Pennington said, before striking a menacing pose in the direction of the actual Luigi, holding his magnifying glass up to his eye.

"What is it now?" Luigi eventually asked.

"I'm not taking my eye off of you, 'Luigi'," Pennington responded. "It just crossed my mind to remind you of that. Murderer," he made sure to add for some extra, unneeded emphasis.

"Thanks," Luigi replied sarcastically with a sigh. And, before long, the trio heard this.

"MARIO!! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF RIGHT NOW, I SWEAR, I'LL RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND SPIT DOWN YOUR NECK!!" A very disgruntled Bow shouted from the hallway, punching a clean hole in the wall next to her in outright rage. Luigi and Pennington shivered at the mere thought of such a happening as Mario let out an exasperated sigh, having forgotten about the Boo.

"That's just morbid..." Pennington muttered, his mind haunted by the sight of a headless Mario and a salivating Bow.

"Wow bro...she sounds pretty mad," Luigi admitted, understandably fearing for his brother's life. "I haven't heard rage like that since the time you forgot the princess' birthday." A day that would live in infamy indeed, but that was not of Mario's concern at the moment, "I wish I could help you out in some way."

Mario suddenly shot a glance at Luigi from the side of his eye, rubbing his chin menacingly as an idea began to concoct in his head. Luigi knew that devious look, and immediately regretted ever saying anything in the first place.

"Maybe there is a way you can help, Luigi..." Mario said quietly as he continued to gaze as his brother. Luigi gulped. He knew this was going to be bad.

Meanwhile, outside, in the hallway, Bow was turning over every potted plant and looking behind every curtain for the escaped plumber. "I swear Mario, when I find you, I'm going to do such horrible things to you. You'll wish you were Don Pianta."

At that exact moment, a plumber garbed in red burst forth from the broom closet, tripping over himself as he crashed into the wall opposite him and nearly fell to the floor. He quickly caught himself though and stood up straight, though he was visibly shaking as he turned his attention to Bow, who, in spite of her rage, suddenly seemed to forgive and forget the moment she found the man she was looking for.

"There you are!" the Boo exclaimed happily, the cold, hard gaze in her eyes instantly being replace with tiny hearts. "I was so worried that- Did you lose weight?"

Luigi looked down at himself and realized that his brother's shirt hung off his torso loosely, though the sleeves barely reached past his elbows. He had to think of something quickly if he didn't want Bow to become suspicious about Mario's miraculous weight loss.

"Umm...I was just bloated before?" he responded uncertainly, unsure whether or not Bow would really accept such an excuse. It almost seemed like she wouldn't fall for it at first, but, surprisingly, she actually accepted the answer without questioning.

"...Oh," she muttered simply before floating over to Luigi slowly and wrapping her arm around his. She began to pull him toward her cabin, and Luigi couldn't help but wonder what exactly she was doing. "Well, come on then. That's the second time you almost got away. I'm not going to risk losing my chance again."

"Uh...your chance for what?" Luigi asked nervously, causing Bow to stop and turn to her with a menacing, seductive smile.

"Don't be silly Mario. I'm sure you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about," she whispered softly as she slowly floated toward Luigi and proceeded to plant a kiss right on his lips. Luigi, stunned, blushed wildly and immediately felt the need to get out of there as quickly as possible. Bow's grip was a lot more powerful than he'd expected though.

"Um, uh, I-I don't think this is such a good idea! I mean, uh, I, I'm saving myself for marriage and uh-" he stammered as he feverishly attempted to release himself from Bow's grasp. The Boo merely chuckled, finding the resistance to be cute as she continued to pull him into the room.

"Oh don't worry sweetie, I'm sure you'll be fine. And we won't have to tell your little princess about anything."

Luigi continued to try to talk his way out of the encounter, though the only words that could come out of his mouth weren't so much actual words as they were blubbering, incoherent noises that only grew muffled after Bow closed the cabin door behind them. He continued to make nonsensical sounds for several more seconds after the door closed. And there was a long silence once he finally quieted down.

And then there was loud, obnoxious laughter that could only belong to the likes of Bow.

In the meantime, Mario had safely emerged from the broom closet donned in his brother's apparel, although it admittedly fit him very tightly. Making sure that the coast was clear, he quickly made the trip over to his room one car over to grab a second pair of his signature clothes. Once he was properly outfitted and able to relax for a bit, he heard three knocks on the door. He went over to open it, and a sulking Luigi immediately stormed in.

"I hate you Mario. I'm never helping you again for as long as I live," Luigi muttered, dropping himself onto Mario's bed as he buried his face in his hands. Mario, slightly wide-eyed, took a seat on the sofa, opposite Luigi.

"What happened?" Mario asked, receiving a glare from Luigi in response.

"As soon as she saw me, she grabbed me and dragged me into her room, after _kissing me on the lips Bro_," Luigi started, an expression of pure guilt on his face as he thought about Daisy. "She told me she didn't want to 'miss her chance' again and, before I knew it, she was taking off my clothes and threw my pants across the room."

"Oh geez..." Mario muttered, genuinely remorseful about putting his brother in such a situation unknowingly. Luigi was already shy and self-conscious, and he was completely devoted to Daisy... "I didn't think Bow would actually do that Bro... I thought she'd just complain for another two hours."

"That's not even the worst part," Luigi continued sadly, "The second my undies were on the floor, she just froze, like she'd turned to stone or something."

Oh God, she actually went that far? Mario probably couldn't feel more terrible if he tried. "Why? What happened?" Mario asked reluctantly.

"I didn't know what was going on; I was actually starting to get worried after a second or two. But, out of nowhere, she just started laughing like crazy. Can you believe that bro!? She was even calling me names while I was getting dressed again. I don't think I've ever felt more embarrassed in my life..."

Out of nowhere, tremendous laughter could be heard breaking out just outside of the cabin door. Both brothers were shocked at first and wondered who it could possibly be, but they both answered their own questions immediately. Who else would so carelessly invade their privacy and spy on them? It was obviously Pennington.

Luigi let out a loud groan as he buried his face in his hands even more.

"This is going to be a full pager in my diary... Speaking of which-"

"I'm keeping an eye out for it," Mario responded immediately, feeling that, now, he really owed it to Luigi to find the thing as soon as possible. "But I have a date with Peach in an hour that I need to get ready for. I'll look for it as soon as dinner's over."

"Thanks Bro," Luigi said with a sigh as he stood from the bed to leave. Before Luigi went for the door, Mario handed him his set of clothes. Mario promptly turned away so Luigi could change out of his brother's clothes and back into his own before exiting. Luigi was resolved to getting back to his room as quickly as possible so he could properly sulk and, as he left, both he and Mario witnessed Pennington literally ROTFLOL-ing in the hallway outside. The thought of "accidently" stepping on the Bumpty's neck multiple times crossed Luigi's mind, but his conscious knew better and voted against it. He promptly turned away from the detective and headed up the train toward his room.

--

After visiting the conductor and asking for the retrieval of his tuxedo (47 seconds), a few spritz of his lucky "Fiery Passion" cologne, and the careful combing of his hair and mustache, Mario was ready for his long-awaited dinner date with Princess Peach. And with half an hour to spare. He made sure to grab a special two-person booth in the corner of the restaurant before the main dinner rush made its way in. Aside from Waluigi and Yoshi, who'd just arrived themselves, Mario was the only passenger in the car. It wasn't long before the waitress approached him with a bright smile on her face.

"Heeey, you're looking pretty spiffy tonight!" she complimented as she observed Mario in his slick formal attire. "You having like, a special dinner with someone?" Mario smiled back at her and nodded in affirmation.

"Princess Peach and I are having a dinner date," he responded happily. "We don't get to do things like this very often, so I'm trying to make it pretty special."

"Oh my gosh, that's like, _sooooo_ cute!" the waitress squealed giddily, hugging the menus she was holding tightly as her smile grew even brighter. "It's so adorable that you two are taking time out to go on a date. Most couples just don't seem to do that after they've been together as long as you and the princess have. Gosh, she's like, so lucky to have a guy like you!"

With that, the waitress laid out one menu in front of Mario and the other on the opposite side of the table. Mario immediately opened the menu and observed the first item he saw. And he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the price.

"_Mama-mia, twenty coins for a mushroom steak burger?"_ Mario thought, stunned. He knew the food on the Excess Express was on the expensive side, but, with those prices, he wasn't sure if he could even afford a few croutons. He was suddenly glad that he'd thought ahead to carry his own snacks for breakfast and lunch, but he'd only brought one hundred coins with him for the trip, twenty of which he'd lost in the casino last night.

Observing Mario's suddenly tensed look, the waitress decided to give him a bit of a break. He was only trying to revive the romance in his relationship after all, and he _was_ a living legend. She figured he could use at least a little discount.

She inched in a bit closer to Mario and signalled for him to lean in so she could whisper in his ear. "Don't worry about the tab tonight, okay? It's on me."

"Really?" Mario whispered back, surprised by the waitress' kind generosity. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because we didn't pay."

"Don't worry about little ol' me," the waitress assured lightly and she stepped back and spoke slightly louder. "You just focus on your date tonight, okay? I'll take care of the rest."

"Thank you," Mario responded happily. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," the waitress said as she began to head back toward the kitchen. "Have fun on your date!"

"What date?" a voice suddenly asked from the other side of the table. Mario quickly looked across from him and let out a sigh of relief upon discovering that it was only Daisy.

"Don't scare me like that Daisy, I thought you were someone else for a second," he spoke up, having thought that Bow had made her way to the table to take up even more of his time. Daisy simply smiled in response as she apologized.

"Well sah-ree Mister Fancypants," she said jokingly, taking a moment to look Mario over. He sure did look snazzy tonight. "What's the occasion? You and Peach having a little date for the first time in who-knows-how-long?"

"Yeah, we are. And I had to go through a lot just to be able to get here in time." Mario then took a second to notice the casting wrapped around her shoulder. He'd expected her to try and cover it up at least a little bit, but, that night, she opted to wear a simple tank top, seeming to show the recent injury off proudly. "How's your shoulder?"

"Oh, this little thing?" Daisy responded casually as she glanced down at her wrappings. "It's nothing big. I mean, sure, I only have six weeks to live thanks to the Pokey poisoning that's now painfully coursing its way through my blood system, but hey, it's all good."

...Mario didn't know if she was joking or not. She'd gotten the art of sarcasm down so perfectly that it was hard to tell whether or not she was even kidding anymore. And it seemed that he wouldn't know if she was actually serious until six weeks were up, because she instantly changed the subject to why exactly she approached Mario in the first place.

"But that's not why I came over to talk to you," she ensured, her voice growing more serious as she shot a glance across the room at someone. Mario turned to see who she was looking at, but was quickly focused back on Daisy as she continued. "I know you're looking for whoever killed Don Pianta last night, and you and I both know that there's no way my sweetie could ever do such a thing, so I've been thinking about things myself. And I have my suspicions about a certain someone being the killer."

"Who would that be?"

"Waluigi. Without a doubt," Daisy answered, very sure of herself as she nodded towards the purple clad man across the room. "I mean, just look at him. I could totally see him committing the murder." Mario couldn't deny that Waluigi was a very suspicious character indeed, but he felt that Daisy was really jumping to conclusions when she pointed him out.

"Don't you think you're a little biased on that assumption?" Mario asked bluntly. Daisy and Waluigi did share some sour history after all. He couldn't accept that Daisy loved Luigi and constantly fought him for her attention. All that ever did was make him look even worse in the eyes of Daisy though. Mario already knew what Waluigi's motive would be, but he decided to ask and see if Daisy had really thought about this much at all. "Why would he kill Don Pianta?"

"Well, Luigi and I talking earlier while I was getting patched up, and he told me about the whole, 'accused of stealing and fired from his job' thing from a few months back. That's gotta be enough motivation right?"

It was. That was the only reason Mario himself was slightly suspicious of Waluigi at all. But how could Waluigi have gotten to the Don's room at all?

"Luigi told me about that too, but then you have to wonder how Waluigi could have possibly made his way to Don Pianta's room in the first place," Mario pointed out. "I personally never saw him go through the casino, and the waitress told me that, as soon as Waluigi entered the train, he came into this room and never left until curfew. How could he have gotten there if he spent all day in here?"

"Well, he's known for being a master thief isn't he?" Daisy responded unsurely, not having thought that question through very much. "And he's traveling with that Popple guy, who calls himself the 'Shadow Thief' or something like that. They probably pulled off some weird ninja moves or walked across the top of the train or something."

While Mario had to admit that Waluigi himself was impressively sneaky and tactful, he had to disregard the whole Popple comment altogether. Mario knew, for a fact, that Popple was definitely not a skilled thief by any means. But Waluigi was known for pulling off some tricks that bordered on the downright unbelievable at times. Who knows, maybe he could have found a way to sneak to Don Pianta's room right under everyone's noses.

"You have a point, but I don't think we can fairly convict Waluigi of anything without some kind of evidence against him," Mario spoke up to Daisy's displeasure. "He might have been able to pull something off, but he has a pretty solid alibi, and multiple eye witnesses could contest that he never moved from the restaurant at all. If you can find something against him though, I'll consider it."

Before Daisy could completely let out a sigh, the waitress returned to the table, carrying a martini glass that she carefully placed in front of Daisy.

"A drink for the lady in yellow," she announced as Daisy stared at the glass with a raised eyebrow.

"Um...I didn't order this," Daisy informed her just before looking over at Mario, who was looking back at her, equally as confused. Then, for a brief second, both of them simultaneously thought that the waitress had confused Daisy for Mario's date. Before either of them could say anything though, the waitress explained.

"That guy in purple over there ordered it for you," the waitress clarified, pointing to Waluigi. When Daisy turned to look, Waluigi patted the seat next to him, making eye contact with Daisy as he did while giving her a slimy smirk.

You could see the shivers go down Daisy's spine.

"I totally agree, like, you _so _shouldn't give him the time of day. He's sooo creepy," the waitress chimed in after taking note of Daisy's reaction. As the waitress left, Daisy had no intention whatsoever of taking Waluigi up on his offer. But, to her surprise, Mario urged her to do it.

"You should go over and talk with him," Mario commented, earning a shocked, disgusted, frightened gaze from Daisy immediately.

_"What__!?"_ she muttered, unable to believe her ears. "You can't be serious can you!? I would _never_ go and actually talk to _Waluigi_!"

"Well, you think he did it right?" Mario responded, "This is your chance to prove that you're on to something. If anything, it'd be for Luigi's sake, right?"

"...I guess," Daisy said, clearly hesitant to actually go and talk to the guy. Mario smiled at her and gave her an assuring pat on her good shoulder.

"Good. Now go cheat on your boyfriend behind his back and prove him innocent," he said cheerfully and sarcastically. Daisy rolled her eyes as she scooted out of her seat after grabbing her martini.

"Oh, you're so hilarious Mario. Really. I'm cracking up over here," she responded flatly before taking a deep breath and forcing herself to walk shamefully across the room. Along the way, Yoshi noticed her and shot her a wave, to which she responded with a weak one of her own and an unconvincing smile. If only she could sit with him. That would have been a thousand times more pleasant than..._Waluigi._

"Hey Doll, nice to see ya come around," Waluigi greeted with a smirk as Daisy reluctantly took a seat next to him. She tried her absolute best to appear as if she were visiting him willingly though. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"...Yep...it, sure has." _Not long enough of a while though. Nowhere near long enough._

"Fancy running into each other again in a place like this huh?" Waluigi chuckled as he immediately scooted a bit closer to Daisy. Her immediate reaction was to scoot away, but she forced herself to stay put. "I never thought I'd be ridin' this train again. And, the one time I do, you show up. I guess you can't fight fate, eh babe?"

"Oh yeah, that's some coincidence..." _He smells so weird..._

"Somethin' wrong?" Waluigi asked, seeing through Daisy's attempts at politeness quite easily. Daisy froze, feeling as if she'd messed up the facade already. Before she could say anything though, Waluigi seemed to fill in the blanks for himself. "Hey, if you're worried about comin' on to me behind Luigi's back, forget about it."

_Coming on to **you**!? Oh my God, you can't be serious!_

"He's gettin' carted off to jail soon as we hit Poshley Heights anyway. He'll be outta the picture for good," Waluigi said with a snicker. "'Sides, you're upgrading to a real man now. It's about time something happened to make you realize I was the guy for you."

_I'm gonna have to take such a long shower after this to get this guy's sleaziness off me..._

"Actually, I managed to snag a little somethin' of his," Waluigi whispered, chuckling as he dug around in his back pocket. Daisy almost didn't want to know what he was about to retrieve, but, before long, he'd produced a book, which he laid down on the table before him. It was green and had a giant "L" imprinted in the center of it. It's lock was undone and Waluigi immediately opened it up. As he flipped through several pages with his left hand as the right casually placed itself across the back of Daisy's chair. She tried not to shiver, feeling the presence of his arm so near her. Once he found a page he particularly liked, the flipping came to a halt immediately. "I already couldn't believe this wimp actually has a diary, but he writes about all the stupidest stuff in here."

_"Dear Diary,_

_"OH MY DEAR GOD, I FOUND A GREY HAIR ON MY MUSTACHE!! It's not old enough to be getting grey hairs yet!! It's only been on my lip for ten years! I can't believe this; am I really getting old!!?? Aaahhh! I have to find some black hair dye, stat!"_

_"Dear Diary,_

_"Whew, okay, false alarm on that last entry. It turns out it was just a stray piece of fur that shed from a passenger's pet chinchilla. It jumped on my face and started clawing my eyes out, leaving behind some fur. I was able to take it right off. Crisis averted."_

_"Dear Diary,_

_"Today, I found out something that I probably shouldn't have. The conductor gets the mail for us whenever we stop at a station, but today he accidentally gave me Toad's only letter. I didn't realize it was his until I read the whole thing, and then looked at the envelope's address in confusion. I gave him the letter and promised I wouldn't tell anybody about what was in it. I felt really sorry for him though. The poor guy was in tears._

_"Dear Diary,_

_"There was a piece of lettuce stuck in my teeth the entire time I was card dealing. FML."_

From across the room, Mario looked on intently as Waluigi and Daisy looked at whatever object Waluigi had fished out of his back pocket. He wished he could see just what it was exactly, but, after noticing a pleading glance in his direction from Daisy, he silently signalled for her to cut off the conversation and come back. Daisy was never more relieved about anything in her entire life.

Turning back to Waluigi, she made up some inaudible excuse for needing to leave. Waluigi, of course, tried to get her to stay at the table with him, but she heavily insisted that she should go and told him that they could talk again another time (a lie that she hoped beyond hope would prove untrue for as long as she lived). She stood up, but, before she could leave, Waluigi suddenly gave her a smack on the butt. Instinctively, she wanted to whip around and give him a return smack to the face, but she restrained herself, choosing to simply look over her shoulder, smile, and giggle nervously as she said her final goodbye. Before she turned back around though, she couldn't help but notice a rather large, platinum band that rested on the wrist of his right arm. It looked kind of familiar for some reason.

"Oh my God, if he doesn't go to jail, I'm going instead, because I'll kill him next time I see him..." she muttered disdainfully as she returned to Mario and Waluigi got up and exited the restaurant for whatever reason. Once he was gone, Daisy dropped herself back into the seat across from Mario, plopping her forehead on the table as she did so.

"Sorry you had to go through that," Mario apologized, though he was secretly rather amused by the fact that Daisy actually had to control her anger for once. She'd grown used to belting out just desserts whenever the opportunity presented itself, but restraining herself was a new thing for her. It must have been tough. "Did you get any information out of him at least?"

"All I really got was the fact that he's even more of a huge jerk than I thought he was," Daisy muttered, not moving her head at all as she answered. "He stole Luigi's diary and actually read some of it out loud."

"That was Luigi's diary?" Mario asked in surprise, staring at Daisy with wide eyes. "Why didn't you take it from him?"

"I wanted him to think I thought he was actually cool," Daisy responded, lifting her head up now, but still resting her chin on the table. "Believe me Mario, there were so many things I wanted to do to that man, but I just sat there and did nothing because I thought I wouldn't find anything out if I made any kind of move."

Poor Luigi, having all of his "deep, personal secrets" spilled out in front of his love interest. Mario had to track that thief down as soon as he could. But, apparently, Daisy still had a little more information for him.

"Waluigi was also wearing some kind of band on his wrist. It was platinum and way too big for his arm. It looked kinda familiar too."

"A platinum band...?" Mario repeated quietly, bowing his head for a brief moment before suddenly realizing what that band must have been. "Don Pianta's ring! Waluigi has his ring!"

"What? No way, that thing belonged to Don Pianta?" Daisy said, finally sitting up as she felt that her visit with the purple clad man wasn't useless after all. "I knew it! Not only did Waluigi want to kill Don Pianta for revenge, but he wanted to steal his ring too! I knew he was behind this somehow!"

Daisy absently shed a bright smile, feeling that her hunch was completely spot-on as Mario stood from his seat and began to walk toward Car 3, where Waluigi had exited to. Before he could get too far though, Daisy called him back to the table.

"I don't think I'd go after him just yet," she told him as she pointed across the restaurant. "Your date's here."

Sure enough, Peach was standing at the other end of the car, looking quite magnificent with her vibrant smile, her done-up hair, and her simple pink gown. Daisy got out of Peach's reserved seat and nudged Mario in the side with her elbow.

"Have fun with your date, alright?" she whispered to him as Peach approached. "I'm gonna go wash the Waluigi off of me."

With that, Daisy was gone, Peach was present, and Mario had to devote himself to the promise he'd made her earlier in the day. No talking about the investigation. No thinking about it either. That night was reserved specially for Peach, and he would give her his full attention until curfew was announced all over the train. He would have to confront Waluigi in the morning.

* * *

**And that marks the end of day 2.**

_Guess what that means! Another poll, asking you guys who you think murdered Don Pianta? Was it one person? Was it all of them? Was it none of them?_

**None of them?**

_Maybe it was suicide!_

**Anyways, here are the results of the last poll. In first place, with a healthy 25 percent of the vote, is Bow.**

_Tied for second, with 16 percent of the vote each is Pennington, Toad, and the Waitress._

**And for third place we have Chef Shimi, Waluigi, and Luigi with 8% of the vote**

_And everybody else ties for last with none of the vote. Sorry guys, guess you weren't suspicious enough. :/_

**Seriously dude, tell me how you do it.**

_Tell us who you think killed Don Pianta, and then go vote._


	8. Day Three: Saturday Morning

**Don't you die on me, okay!? DON'T LET GO!**

_Cascore... I... I see a light. It's so... pretty._

**No, don't go towards the light. DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!**

"All right, next I have a Mister 'Wimpzilla'?" A doctor announced, strolling into the room nonchalantly as he gazed over his clipboard's documents.

**Right here sir! Hurry, I don't think he has a lot of time left.**

_Grandma? Is that you? *GASP* And my pet goldfish Ronny that died when I was eight!?_

"... Well, it appears that your friend here is ailed with... a common cold?" The doctor asked incredulously.

**What can we do doctor!? CAN WE EVEN SAVE HIM!?**

"Yeah. Just rest for a few days, maybe pop a Tylenol or two and in no time-"

_*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*_

**He's flat-lining!**

"Is that even possible!?" The doctor exclaimed.

**Sorry for the delay folks, Wimpzilla's been under the weather lately and-**

"QUIT APOLOGIZING AND HELP ME APPLY PRESSURE!" The doctor bellowed, "I'M NOT LOSING ANOTHER ONE TODAY!"

* * *

**Day Three - Saturday Morning**

_"...possibly the most notorious hand in the history of the game. It's difficult for players to receive this set of cards without feeling a chill climb up their spines..."_

Mario had to pause, for a yawn refused to remain suppressed any longer. He lowered the book for a moment as he took the deep, tired intake of breath before lazily rubbing his burning eyes. He then returned his attention to the book and forced his brain to intake its knowledge.

"Morning Bro," Mario could hear Luigi greet. Mario lifted his eyes to observe his younger brother approaching from the opposite end of the restaurant, a plate of food in his hands. Judging by the dark bags underneath Mario's eyes, Luigi could tell Mario didn't get much sleep the previous night either. Who could blame him though? This whole case certainly hadn't gotten any better overnight, and time was continuing to slip away. "What are you reading?" Luigi asked, seating himself across the table from his brother.

"It's just some book about poker..." Mario mumbled, returning to his reading. "I brought it along, thinking it could give me an advantage or something."

"Lot of good that was, huh?" Luigi said lightheartedly, hoping to lift his brother's mood just a little. Mario gave no response however.

Luigi gave a very weak laugh in spite of himself though, quickly choosing to stare out of the window as silence prevailed. The same scenery he had seen those past few weeks of employment rolled by outside, albeit at a much slower pace. On top of that, it was a complete downpour outside, the pitter-patter of the heavy rain ramming against the pane of glass making a rhythmic tapping sound. This was not the greatest of mornings, even managing to weigh down the spirits of the usually happy-go-lucky brothers. If you didn't know them, you'd think the "Super Sulking Brothers" would be a more fitting title.

"So..." Luigi sighed, looking for a subject to converse about. After a moment, he seemed to find it. "Frosted Mushroomios?"

"What?" Mario asked absentmindedly, looking over at his brother before noting the empty miniature box of cereal Luigi was focusing on. "Oh, yeah," he muttered shortly before returning to his book. "It's a good thing I thought to bring my own food. I'd have been broke before we even got to Riverside..."

"Wish I'd have thought of the same thing," Luigi responded, poking his breakfast reluctantly with his fork, frowning. "I mean, look at these hash browns. Burned to a crisp on one side, yet raw on the other." Luigi took a bite out of his food, looking dissatisfied with the side dish. "Ugh, it's terrible."

"You oughta know something Luigi," Mario began without looking up from his book, seeming unable to care very much in his current state of mind, "Chef Shimi spits in your food."

"...What?" Luigi asked, his eyes widening ever so slightly as his chewing slowed to a stop.

"He said you constantly criticize his food, so he spits in everything you order," Mario repeated, knowing he ought not to be so blunt, but genuinely unable to show much concern. Luigi, of course, was mortified.

"Blegh!" Luigi shouted, making an uproarious show of spitting his food back onto his plate and grabbing a nearby napkin to furiously wipe off his tongue. He pushed his dish to the side before quickly getting up from the table and sprinting across the restaurant at full speed, shouting in disgust as he thundered through the door to the casino, headed for his room.

Mario continued to read, uninterested.

A few minutes later, after brushing his teeth and gargling mouthwash for the second time that morning, followed by careful flossing and the placement of a germ-killing, breath-freshening mint, Luigi returned to his brother's table and seated himself with a sigh.

"I swear, if I have to put up with one more thing from that Chef Shimi guy, I'm throwing him out the window," he muttered, more depressed than angry it seemed. "I mean, I just try to give him a tip here and there about how to make his food a little better, and he responds by giving me sass and spitting in my food? I even threatened not to order anything from his menu anymore and he said, 'Well what are you gonna do? Not feet for 3 days?"

"Feet?" Mario asked, that having been the only word he actually heard Luigi say.

"I think he meant eat," Luigi reasoned. "...So, what are you reading about in that book anyway?" he asked after failing to elicit a response from Mario for some time. Mario soon lifted his head once more as he let out another yawn. Figuring he may as well give his tired brain a rest, he pushed the book toward Luigi.

"Read for yourself."

Luigi took up the book and turned his attention to a pair of italicized paragraphs immediately:

"_James 'Wild Bill' Butler Hickok was a cautious gambler of sorts, known always to seat himself in a corner as to not be shot from behind. On the evening of August 26th, 1876, unable to find a corner, Wild Bill took a chair in Nuttal & Mann's saloon facing one door, his back to another._

_He died that night of a .45 bullet through the skull, with four cards confirmed in his poker hand; the eight of clubs, the ace of clubs, the eight of spades, and the ace of spades. From the night the legend fell, that collection of cards, among other things, has been called the Dead Man's hand."_

"Well that's...unsettling," Luigi spoke up once he had finished, returning his attention to his brother with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Especially when you think about what happened last night..."

"Yeah, it's little weird," Mario agreed, taking his turn to stare out the window, reflecting on the events of the night before, starting all the way back with his date with Peach.

---

Mario slowly chewed on his dinner, only chancing a glance at Peach every once in a while. Peach seemed to mirror him action for action, wishing she could just escape the awkward silence hanging in the air. Whenever the two made eye contact, they were quick to avert their attention somewhere else, as if they were a couple of nervous teenagers slogging through their very first date. It was embarrassing and slightly infuriating at the same time, being unable to simply enjoy themselves as much as they usually did.

"I must say, you two sure are quiet as mice on your dates aren't you?" Toadsworth commented, speaking rather casually through a mouthful of steak from his seat next to Peach. Both the plumber and the princess glanced over at him from the sides of their eyes.

"Well...we weren't really expecting you to accompany us Toadsworth..." Mario spoke up, hoping to break the silence as Toadsworth swallowed his piece of steak before glaring across the table at Mario suspiciously.

"Is that so?" he asked with an inquisitive voice. "And what exactly is it that you two do when I'm _not_ around." Mario and Peach were taken aback immediately.

"Nothing! We don't uh-do anything!" Mario responded immediately, noticing the deep blush forming on Peach's cheeks as she suddenly turned her attention to the nearby window. She must have been dying of embarrassment. "It's just that uh...having you here is kinda like having a father sit in on a date. It's kind of awkward."

"Yes, I understand," Toadsworth sighed sympathetically, knowing that he was the wrench in the gears of the date the entire time. "If we were back in Toad Town, then I wouldn't have an issue with leaving you two alone. However, with there being a killer on board this very train, I'm afraid I simply cannot let the princess out of my sight. I am her steward after all; I must make sure nothing happens to her. So I am afraid that it is my duty to stay at her side, especially in a situation like this. Besides, I know you two would never keep anything secret from me anyway, right?" Toadsworth asked in a more serious tone, hardening his gaze at Mario as he let out a quiet sigh and glanced out the window, just as Peach did.

"No, we wouldn't," Mario responded, clearly unhappy about how the situation had to be. Toadsworth nodded and returned his attention to his steak.

"Then just pretend I'm not here," Toadsworth commented, beginning to cut off a piece of his main course. Mario and Peach began to get back to their meals as well before Toadsworth spoke up once again. "Oh, but could you do one thing for me Master Mario?"

"Hm?" Mario responded simply, his mouth filled with a bite of his burger as he looked back over at Toadsworth.

"Would you please stop playing 'footsies' with me? It's terribly uncomfortable."

Without a word, and with an eternally embarrassed look on his face, Mario quickly dropped his feet. He could see Peach press her palm against her forehead as a wild blush came to her cheeks. Mario knew exactly how she felt... Maybe the chef was kind and slipped some poison into his drink so he could die right then and there...

"So," Peach began, desperately trying to keep the date from bombing as Mario downed half his glass of chuckola cola in record time, "what have you been up to lately Mario?"

"You mean other than trying to find a killer, prove my brother innocent, and putting up with Pennington?" Mario asked sarcastically with a smile as he lowered his glass back down to the table. Peach was not amused.

"You promised me we wouldn't talk about that," Peach reminded him sternly with a huff, looking off at nothing in particular. "Among other things..." she added with a disdainful mutter. Mario admitted that his small stab at lightening the mood backfired, regretting having brought up the case at all. As he silently grabbed for a fry or two though, he noticed, with some amount of dread, that the "other things" in question was approaching at that very moment. The one person...well, one of the people at least, that could make that date any worse.

"Hey guys!" Bow greeted loudly with a bright smile, as if she were approaching a table of friends. Mario immediately took up his drink again, seriously hoping the chef actually did put something in it, as Peach turned to Bow with daggers in her eyes. Toadsworth, at some point apparently, had switched to the other side of the table next to Mario, apparently afraid of just what might happen had he remained between the princess and the Boo. "What's goin' on?"

"We happen to be on a date," Peach responded with a quiet ferocity in her tone. Mario and Toadsworth were instantly afraid that Peach was about to become violently out of character very soon.

"Wow, a date huh? That's cute. So you guys are like, a serious thing then?" Bow asked, speaking with such a casual tone that Mario just knew she was clearly instigating something. He wanted to intervene as quickly as possible, but, with a mouthful of cola, there was no way he could talk without making a mess. And Bow had already floated closer to Peach in order to whisper something into her ear. "Listen, I hate to break this to you, but, even though he's a world famous plumber, he doesn't exactly have the best 'equipment' in his 'toolbox'. Just to let you know."

Perhaps whispering was not the proper word, since, even from across the table, Mario and Toadsworth could hear her loud and clear. And Bow seemed to intend for that to happen.

After a wicked smile in Mario's direction (clearly trying to hold back laughter), she briefly made her exit, leaving Peach to decipher exactly what she meant by her message. And it was evident that Peach wouldn't need to have things spelled out more blatantly for her to understand what was going on.

Mario couldn't believe that Bow actually went out of her way just to do something like that. He seriously had to the question the validity of their "friendship", but, at the moment, he had to focus on explaining everything to Peach.

Once he made sure Bow was gone, Mario immediately spoke up in an attempt to dispel Peach's anger. But she wasn't going to let him get out a single word before exploding.

"I _knew_ it!" she exclaimed, throwing down her fork as she closed her eyes and balled her fists, apparently trying very hard to control herself. "I knew you were doing something with that... that... HUSSY!"

"Hussy?" Mario parroted absently, thinking that such word would be more appropriately applied by someone of Toadsworth's age. Of course, whatever word Peach decided to use to describe Bow was of no relevance whatsoever. Peach's eyes shot back open, revealing welled up tears as she stared at Mario, unable to believe what was going on.

"I thought I could trust you Mario," Peach spoke up, more quietly now. "Of all the people in the world, you were the one I thought I could believe in the most. But you just...lied, right to my face. And you did it so easily too!"

"Peach, it's not what it seems like," Mario tried to speak up, upset that the misunderstanding was having such an affect on her. "Bow doesn't know what she's talking about-"

"Oh my god," Peach cut him off, coming to a realization as she looked away from Mario for a moment. "You two were together for days when Bowser stole the Star Rod. What were you two doing for all that time!?" she asked accusingly, looking back at Mario as he appeared to shrink back slightly, unaccustomed to Peach's current behavior. She was rarely this furious about anything.

"There's nothing going on between us Peach," Mario responded as genuinely as he could, his current state of being making it harder for him to sound believable. "We've never done anything together, I swear."

"...I just can't believe you," Peach scoffed quietly as she stood up and discarded the napkin that previously resided on her lap onto the table. "I'm done. This date is over. Goodnight Mario."

With that, Peach made her exit, leaving Mario speechless as Toadsworth removed himself from his seat as well. Mario looked over at the old Toad, hoping to find at least a trace of sympathy from him. However, judging by his cold stare, Toadsworth would hear no more of the situation than Peach.

"Quite deplorable of you Mario," Toadsworth commented harshly, purposefully dropping the usual "Master" prefix before following Peach out of the room, carrying his steak with him.

Mario watched him leave before burying his face into his hands, sighing deeply. Of all the trains _Bow_ had to be on, it had to be that one. If Mario didn't know any better, he'd have thought Luigi had given him his bad luck.

Wait a minute... _Luigi._

Pushing away thoughts of the catastrophe that took place just moment ago, Mario suddenly remembered Luigi's diary, and the fact that he had a new lead on the case to follow. He felt terrible about returning to his detective mindset so quickly, knowing that Peach was so upset with him, but he figured he'd likely have more luck doing some sleuthing rather than trying to apologize right away.

Looking around the restaurant, he noticed that, at some point, Waluigi had returned to the car, seated at the same table he was at earlier. And, though he attempted to conceal it, Mario could see the diary in Waluigi's left hand as he used the right to consume his fried eggplants. It was noticeable Waluigi was still wearing Don Pianta's ring as well, for the loop of platinum could be clearly seen hanging from his right wrist.

Deciding that he would try to smooth things over with Peach at a later date, Mario made his way over to Waluigi. It was time to get to work.

"Hey, Waluigi," Mario greeted, somewhat unsure of how exactly to speak with the man in purple. It wasn't like the two of them were friends, and they rarely even exchanged words at all. Mario figured he may as well stay casual though and approached the conversation the same way he would with anyone else. "How's it going?"

"What's it to you?" Waluigi mumbled, not bothering to look at the plumber as he took another bite of his food. The tone of Waluigi's voice instantly told Mario that friendly conversation wouldn't get him anywhere. He would fare better if he just got straight to the point.

"Well, I just couldn't help but notice you have something that belongs to my brother," he responded bluntly, folding his arms as Waluigi looked up at him for the first time with furrowed eyebrows. He made a noticeable adjustment with his left hand, obviously attempting to hide the object in question even more.

"What could I have that belongs to that wimp?" Waluigi asked defensively, not fooling Mario for even a second.

"His diary," Mario informed flatly. Waluigi winced ever so slightly as Mario made a gesture to Yoshi across the room, pointing discreetly under the table at Luigi's diary. Yoshi, having been watching the confrontation in silence, nodded, seeming to understand what was being asked of him. By now, Waluigi didn't seem to care about being sneaky, for he revealed the diary in full view of Mario, and actually spun it atop one of his fingers as if it were a flat, rectangular basketball.

"'Boohoo, you have my little brother's diary.' So what?" Waluigi scoffed cockily, not noticing that Yoshi was already making his way across the room. "Think you can take it from me? I'd like to see you try."

Without warning, Yoshi's tongue shot right by Mario and stuck itself to Waluigi's chest. Surprised, Waluigi lowered his free hand to try to remove the sticky appendage, but, before he knew it, he was being pulled right into Yoshi's massive mouth. With a shout, Waluigi disappeared into Yoshi's belly and soon popped out of his other end, encased in a green-spotted egg. Mario was shocked and somewhat disgusted (as was Yoshi; Waluigi tasted horrible) to see that happen. He only wanted Yoshi to nab the diary. But, turning to see that the diary had actually fallen from Waluigi's finger as he was consumed, Mario figured it was just as well. At least Luigi's most prized possession wouldn't have any saliva on it.

Yoshi furiously wiped his tongue off as Waluigi exploded from the shell and began wiping his wet clothes off immediately.

"That was disgusting!" they both shouted at the same time. Yoshi immediately retreated to his table in order to please his tongue with the taste of the plethora of fruits and vegetables he'd ordered for dinner. He sighed with relief as he reveled in the food and Mario soon pressed on to his next order of business with Waluigi.

"Now that we have that out of the way..." Mario muttered, still a little shocked about Yoshi actually consuming Waluigi, "Let's talk about that 'bracelet' of yours." Ceasing his furious wiping for a moment to look at his right wrist, Waluigi glared at Mario with his beady eyes.

"What are you gonna do now, get Wario over here so he can fart on me!?" Waluigi growled, inadvertantly making Mario shudder at the sheer thought. That wouldn't only be bad for Waluigi; everyone within a thousand-foot radius of Wario's fart would have to suffer. "What do you care if I wear some jewelry!?"

"I'm more concerned about where you got it actually," Mario clarified, causing Waluigi to glare at him more intensely. "That 'bracelet' looks familiar, but, if I remember correctly, I don't think it was _you_ that was wearing it when I last saw it.

"It looks really nice though. Valuable," he continued in a tone that majorly hinted that he was about to accuse Waluigi of something big. He wished the annoying plumber would just get on with it already. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much longer. "Looks like something to kill a man over."

"Look _Mario_, if you're trying to pin this murder rap on me, you may as well forget about it. I had _nothing_ to do with it."

"If that's true, then why exactly are you wearing _Don Pianta's_ ring?" Mario asked accusingly, now staring at Waluigi just as hard as Waluigi was staring at him. Before Waluigi could react at all though, the door leading into the restaurant from Cabin 3 slammed open to reveal none other than Pennington, holding his magnifying glass up as his enlargened eye stared directly in Mario's and Waluigi's direction.

"What's this about a _ring_!?" Pennington shouted as Mario sighed. For once, things were going well for him that night. Bow and Pennington must have had the same agenda to ruin his evening or something.

"What are you doing here Pennington?" Mario asked, turning toward the detective, already exasperated by his presence.

"My unwavering nostrils have detected the sweet scent of mystery wafting from this very location," Pennington spoke up shortly before sniffing the air to be sure. "That, or cherry pie."

"No flies in here!" Chef Shimi shouted from the kitchen, "ARGH, I mean 'Pies'."

"MYSTERY IT IS THEN!" Pennington shouted exuberantly, pointing triumphantly into the air. Waddling quickly over to Waluigi's table, he asked, "So what's all this about a 'ring'? EVIDENCE PERHAPS!?"

"Can you stop with the yelling?" Mario asked, already feeling a headache boiling up as Pennington stood next to him. Figuring he already had Waluigi cornered though, Mario decided he may as well try to turn Pennington into a useful partner as opposed to the usual annoying disturbance. "Pennington, do you recognize that 'bracelet' Waluigi's wearing?"

"Well, it's a very classy piece of jewelry to be sure," Pennington answered, investigating the ring closely as Waluigi glared down at him, unsure of what exactly he should do. "I'd estimate it's value at around fifteen thousand coins, give or take a few hundred. But otherwise, I am unfamiliar with this particular ornament."

"Well, it just so happens that this 'bracelet' is, in fact, a ring that once belonged to the deceased Don Pianta," Mario announced, much to the surprise of Pennington. Waluigi looked shocked as well, but he couldn't hide the fact that he already knew this information. He was more surprised by the fact that Mario was actually able to recognize it.

"SO!" Pennington shouted in blatant ignorance of Mario's earlier request to quiet down, "YOU KILLED DON PIANTA IN ORDER TO STEAL HIS PRECIOUS RING! WHAT ELSE OF HIS MIGHT YOU HAVE, HMM!? PORTRAITS!? GOLD!? JEWEL ENCRUSTED UNDERGARMENTS!!??"

"You can stop your squawkin' right there!" Waluigi demanded, raising his voice as well. "I already told you, I had _nothin'_ to do with Don Pianta's death! I _found_ this ring!"

"I doubt that you just happened to _find_ Don Pianta's ring, Waluigi," Mario pointed out. Waluigi turned his attention back to the red plumber before pointing a spindly finger at the diary resting in Mario's grasp.

"I found it in your brother's stupid diary!"

"...What?" Mario was obviously rather stunned. What Waluigi just said wouldn't click in his mind for some reason, leaving him unable to grasp exactly what Waluigi meant, although it was clear as day. Silently, Mario bowed his head downward to look at the green diary at the same time Pennington gave it his attention.

"Is that so?" Pennington spoke, studying the diary in question through his magnifying glass. "If what you say is true, you dodgy-looking, lanky man, then this newfound information points the finger not in your direction, but right back at my number one suspect! The very suspect I deduced was the criminal since the very beginning!"

"Like we can take Waluigi's word for anything," Mario spat uncharacteristically acidicly, getting back into the proper mindset as he looked back over at Waluigi. "It's not exactly a secret that you hate my brother. How do we know you're not just lying through your teeth like you always do?"

"Because I swear on my own freaking grave that I found it in that diary," Waluigi promised, removing the ring from around his wrist and placing it on the table as he folded his arms defensively. "The second I opened that book, the ring fell out from one of the pages near the back. If anyone stole it from Don Pianta, is was your little killer of a brother."

"Prove to me that this ring was in that diary, and I'll believe that you found it in there," Mario demanded, wanting to see just how Waluigi would do that. The guy may have been a good thief, but it wasn't like he could turn back time to show Mario and Pennington in person that the ring was in the diary. As Waluigi struggled to figure out a way to prove himself innocent though, Pennington, being antagonistic as usual, came up with something of an unorthodox method to help Waluigi. Inspired by the fact that he could actually smell Mario and Waluigi chatting about the mystery, he picked up the ring and gave it a sniff. It seemed that the object had something of a distinct scent about it. Shortly afterward, he spied Yoshi chowing down at a table across the room.

"You, green fellow of Yoshi persuasion," Pennington shouted to Yoshi, who took a breather from his dinner to glance over. "Your obscenely large nose suggests that your nostrils are more keen than even mine and will be of great aid in this issue. Will you join us for a moment?"

Yoshi, after silently agreeing that his ability to pick up smells was quite exceptional compared to most, stood from his table and made his way over to the group for a second time. "What's going on?"

"Would you mind taking a scent sample from this ring?" Pennington asked. Yoshi simply looked at Pennington in slight astonishment for a moment, wondering why he was being asked to smell a ring. Without question though, he leaned in close to the outstretched ring and inhaled deeply, taking a mental note of its scent.

"Excellent," Pennington said happily, replacing the ring on the table and now grabbing Luigi's diary from Mario, who relinquished it reluctantly. Pennington opened to the book to a blank page near the back of the book in order to avoid the smell of ink interfering and held it up to Yoshi. "Now, see if you can pick up the same scent from this diary."

Again, Yoshi leaned forward and inhaled deeply. He then reared back his head, appearing to be a little surprised about his discovery. He had a feeling he was doing something bad as he looked over at Mario, who stared back with a pleading look in his eyes, but he had to tell Pennington what he found out.

"They smell exactly the same."

"And just like that, my initial conviction, once again, proves to be even more correct," Pennington announced happily, unceremoniously shoving the diary back into the hands of a crestfallen Mario. "Really, we should just drop this case altogether. It's so rudimentary that I didn't even have to do any actual sleuthing before determining the killer."

After a remorseful glance toward Mario, Yoshi returned to his table once again as Waluigi gave a smug smile and Pennington chuckled to himself quietly. Without a word, Mario gave up on trying to make Waluigi the guilty party and instead resolved to simply return the diary to its rightful owner. Once he took a moment to think about it though, he figured he should probably take the ring along too. It was now an important factor in the case, therefore making it evidence.

He picked up the ring and began to leave, only to have himself be held back by some invisible force that tugged at his hand. He turned to see what was going on, only to find Pennington clinging on to the other end of the ring.

"Excuse me 'Mario', but I do believe this ring should be going with me," Pennington said, tugging lightly on the ring as if he expected Mario to just let it go. Mario wasn't about to give it up that easily though.

"What? Why?" Mario responded, giving a harsh tug on the ring in response. Pennington had to step forward to keep from falling on his face, but his grip didn't let up. "I got the thermometer, you got the feather, now it's my turn to get the ring."

"This investigation is too important to be 'taking turns' with the evidence," Pennington spoke up, giving his own, harder pull on the ring. "I should have the feather _and_ the thermometer, for I have the proper equipment to analyze both. And this ring will be eternally more useful in my possession for the same reason."

"I doubt you'd actually do any analyzing of anything," Mario grunted back, now escalating the back and forth into a tug of war for the ring. "You're already so convinced that my brother committed this crime. Why would you waste time analyzing things when you know you're already right?"

"To prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he did it of course. My word is quite the stable proof on its own, but hard evidence will make the law enforcement see the truth for sure," Pennington mumbled as his muscles began to tire over the excessive pulling of the ring "Besides, for what reason would _you_ need this ring? I wouldn't be surprised if you simply hid it away to keep your brother from being jailed! By holding onto this important item, you'd be obstructing justice!"

"Just because it was found in my brother's diary _doesn't_ mean he committed the crime," Mario shot back, beginning to grow slightly fatigued himself. But he had to admit that, while he did not have any immediate need for the ring, it would be handy to hold on to in case of future events.

"Well...we both want possession of this undeniably vital item," began as he relaxed his pulling a bit. Mario did the same. "And we can't keep tugging over it like small children over a toy."

"So what should we do with it?" Mario asked, the both of them coming to a stop with their pulling, but still holding on to either end of it.

"I propose a gentleman's challenge," Pennington suggested, piqueeing Mario's interest. "A game of poker. 50 chips each, 5 hands, and the winner claims the ring. Do you accept?"

Mario felt it was a little silly and a waste of time to go through with such a thing, but he was sure that, if he didn't agree to this, Pennington would either take the ring immediately or pester him about it endlessly. Besides, Mario had to admit, despite the current situation, he thought it might be a little fun. And, if he won, not only would he get to keep the ring, but he would also get to rub it in Pennington's face that he was better at poker.

"Fine, we'll play a game of poker. But only if my brother deals the cards," Mario added quickly. "It would be best to have a professional card dealer after all."

"I have no qualms with that proposal," Pennington agreed to the slight surprise of Mario. "Until then however, I suggest this purple fellow keep hold of the ring."

"Why me?" Waluigi asked immediately, not really paying much attention to the conversation until he was mentioned. He couldn't help but wonder why Pennington always called people by the color of their skin or the clothes they were wearing, but the penguin answered before he could think much about it.

"You want to prove your own innocence, do you not?" Pennington asked. Waluigi didn't respond, but the look on his face suggesting that he understood just what Pennington was getting at. "By trusting you with the ring and believing you will bring it with you once we commence our challenge, you will dispel our suspicion of you having killed Don Pianta and stolen his ring. If you don't bring it with you though, well, we could always have you jailed for theft now couldn't we?"

Both Mario and Waluigi could see just how clever Pennington was being at the moment. Mario had to appreciate that Pennington was still putting Waluigi on the spot, giving him a choice between absolute innocence or a valuable ring plus the certain possibility of going to jail. While Mario still had his reservations about trusting Waluigi, his agreeing to return what seemed to be the only malleable award he could get from Don Pianta would definitely help to rule him out as the possible killer.

"Fine, I'll hold on to the ring until you guys get this stupid 'challenge' over with," Waluigi grumbled, outstretching his hand to receive the large platinum band. Pennington handed the object over and soon spoke up once more.

"Excellent. So, 'Mario', shall we gather in the casino in, say, fifteen minutes so you may retrieve our card dealer?" Pennington asked, prompting a nod from Mario in response. Mario was pretty surprised as Pennington headed for Car 3 and Waluigi returned to his now-cool plate of food. Was Pennington really about to let the very man he believed killed Don Pianta deal cards for them? Mario expected him to be his usual neurotic self, exclaiming that Mario asking for his brother to deal was a red flag that Mario himself planned to cheat. But not a single word was said about it.

There had to be something more to it.

"Oh, hey Bro, how was your date wi- MY DIARY!" Luigi screamed as Mario entered his little brother's room, holding up the green diary with the large "L" printed on it. Luigi immediately leaped off of his bed, landing clear across the room right in front of Mario. He snatched the book out of Mario's hand and gave it an embrace that'd make Daisy jealous. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! YOU'RE THE BEST BROTHER EVER MARIO!! Where did you find it!?"

"Actually, Waluigi had it-"

"Waluigi!?" Luigi repeated, his excited mood making a complete one-eighty as dread occupied his features. "He... he didn't read it did he!?"

"He did..." Mario answered reluctantly, much to Luigi's chagrin. Little did the man in green know that it was soon to become even worse. "He even read some of it to Daisy... I'm sorry Bro."

"Not Daisy..." Luigi muttered, shattered. He stepped back toward his bed and dropped himself onto it limply, still holding his diary close, for it seemed glued to his chest. "Why does Waluigi always do stuff like this to me Bro? I swear, he's just gonna push me over the edge someday... He better watch out or...or I'm gonna write him a strongly worded letter! About his mother!"

...And Pennington was seriously accusing this guy of murdering someone?

Now wasn't the time to be thinking stuff like that. Mario had to make sure that Luigi really didn't have anything to do with that ring.

"Luigi, have you ever hidden anything in your diary?" Mario asked, taking a seat on the couch across from Luigi. His little brother simply looked over at him, an eyebrow raised at the obvious question.

"It's a _diary_ Bro." Mario walked right into that.

"I meant something physical, like jewelry or something," Mario clarified, causing Luigi to seriously think for a brief moment before answering.

"I keep my favorite pen in there, but that's it. Why?"

"Because, Waluigi says that he found a ring in your diary," Mario explained. "I didn't believe him at first, but Yoshi confirmed that the scent on the ring and the smell of your diary are exactly alike."

"...What ring?" Luigi asked, sounding slightly nervous as he asked, fearing that this was about to spell something very bad for him. "I've never put a ring in my diary before...

"Well, it belonged to Don Pianta-"

"What!? No no no, not all this stuff about Don Pianta again!" Luigi exclaimed. For the past few hours, he actually managed to get his mind off the investigation. Sure, he was fretting over his diary and the Bow incident instead, but that was the first time he was able to let his guard down and not constantly worry about possibly heading off to jail soon. But as soon as he gets his diary back, it all starts up yet again. "Mario, I've never touched that ring in my life! The only reason I even know what it looks like is because I glanced at it during my interview with Don Pianta! As soon as he told me that anyone who even looks at that thing the wrong way 'gets the axe' though (and he didn't just mean 'gets fired'), I never even dared to look in its direction again!"

"Everyone else is thinking otherwise though," Mario responded sternly, worrying Luigi even more. "And Pennington was there when we found out that the ring was in your diary, of course. He wants to take it to keep as evidence, but that ring is too important to just leave with him. He'll use it against you in an instant."

"You couldn't just take it from him?" Luigi asked with a small voice. Mario let out a little sigh before answering.

"He was determined to keep it. I tried to take it, but he grabbed on to the other end of it and we practically ended up in a tug of war," Mario explained. "I probably could have just taken it, but I know he'd be only follow me even more than usual if I did. So we agreed to play a game of poker in about ten minutes. You'll be the dealer, and whoever wins gets to keep it.

"...You did WHAT!?" Luigi exclaimed at the top of his lungs, shocking Mario instantly with his sudden nervous energy. "_POKER!?_ Bro, how could risk that ring over a game of _poker_!?"

"Well...it's not really 'risking' if you stack the cards in my favor right?" Mario asked with a timid smile. It was unlike him to propose the idea of flat out cheating, but it was easily agreeable that, when it came to something like this, certain "precautions" could be made to assure his victory. Luigi knew better though, and simply sighed in reponse.

"...Bro, I hate to say this, but you _really_ messed up," Luigi spoke up, surprising Mario yet again. "This isn't going to work..."

"What are you talking about? I thought you'd be excited about this," Mario responded. "You _can_ help me win can't you?"

"Mario, it really doesn't matter how I stack the deck," Luigi began to explain, leaning back against the wall behind him. "Poker is the only game where you can be dealt bad hands all night and still come out on top. And frankly, I hate to be so blunt and I didn't want to mention this at the table last night, but you are, without a doubt, the single worst poker player I've ever seen."

Ouch. Well _that_ didn't hurt Mario's pride at all

"How can you tell something like that?" Mario asked, stunned about what his brother was telling him. "You've only seen me play one game of poker."

"One game is all you really need to tell if someone's good or not," Luigi responded flatly. "Poker is all about being able to bluff and make your opponent think you have a good hand."

"Well I know that," Mario said back, feeling defensive about his brother's lack of confidence in him.

"But it's not just that. You have to be able to see through someone else's bluff too. Do you know what a 'tell' is Bro?"

"...I think I read about it before," Mario answered, not entirely sure.

"A tell is when you subconsciously telegraph how good your hand is," Luigi answered, busting out his textbook definition of the term in order to enlighten his brother. "And I hate to say it, but your tells are really, _really _obvious. Every time you get a good hand, your mustache twitches just slightly. But when you get a bad hand, you don't even look at your cards. Any good poker player would be able to pick up on your tells in an instant."

"...I didn't even know I did that," Mario admitted, now thinking about his actions at the card table the previous night. He already knew that he didn't like looking at a bad hand, but he never noticed the mustache thing. He soon shook his head though, remembering exactly who it was that he'd be playing against. "But I'm playing against _Pennington_. He can't be that good either, can he?"

"Wrong again Bro..." Luigi answered reluctantly, downing Mario's spirits even more. "Since I started working at the casino, Pennington did ride the train one time before, when he was heading for Shiver City. That was about a week-long trip, and he managed to dominate the poker table every single night. If there's just one thing he's actually good at, it's poker.

"I remember this one night, a Shy Guy came to the table looking for a game, and Pennington was the only one there. Shy Guys are notorious when it comes to poker, 'cause, you know, they have those masks they can hide their emotions behind. He could grin all he wanted about a good hand and Pennington would never know.

"The entire game I was trying to figure out the Shy Guy's tell, since I'm pretty good at it, considering all I have to do is deal and can just watch the players, but I couldn't do it Bro. That guy was like stone all night; all he ever did was move his hands to pick up cards and place chips. He never scratched or twitched, he didn't do _anything_. But Pennington called him out on every single bluff. I don't know how he did it, but he cleaned out that Shy Guy in seven hands."

...Well that was just perfect. Mario couldn't help but feel pretty deceived. The one thing Pennington's actually good at, and a valuable piece of evidence is at stake. Mario had to wonder if the penguin trapped him the same way he trapped Waluigi by trusting him with holding the ring. He must have been very confident he'd be able to win this game.

"Well, you've had a week to study him right?" Mario asked, feeling as if he were grasping at air by now. "You were able to figure out his tells weren't you?" Luigi hesitated for a moment.

"...Yeah, I guess... I mean, sort of," he answered unsurely, worrying Mario even more. "Well, actually, I'm not really sure. Pennington does have tells, but he has a whole lot. It's hard to tell if any of them are actually consistent. One hand he'll scratch his beak, and it turns out to be good. The next, he'll nervously clutch his magnifying glass, and he folds. Then he'll do them both at the same time on the next hand and it'll be good again. And _then_ he'll do something completely different before going back to scratching his beak again. And this time, on the hand that he scratches his beak, it's bad. It's just totally random. I don't know if it's actually a strategy or if it's just Pennington...'Pennington'ing."

Mario sighed. "Well, all I have to do his hide my tells right? Now that I know what I do, I can probably control them. So I might have a chance, right?"

"Maybe," Luigi responded less than enthusiastically. He couldn't deny that, even if Mario could pull off some decent bluffs, Pennington would still probably wipe the floor with him. "But your odds are still gonna be slim. It would take a miracle to beat him."

"Come on Luigi, I'm famous for pulling off miracles. Look at me; I'm a plumber that kart races, plays tennis, golf, soccer, basketball, and baseball, I'm a respected doctor, I can jump two stories high, dance like a pro, and fly through space wearing nothing more than my usual work clothes. I'd hardly call winning a poker game against Pennington a miracle."

Okay, Mario had a point. But still, winning against Pennington was going to be no easy feat, and it really would take a lot for a poker player as bad as Mario to win.

"Well, in any case, we better get over to the casino right? Your game's in a few minutes," Luigi said with clear dread in his voice. He felt almost certain that this wouldn't end well, and that this damning piece of evidence was going to be lost in a flash.

"Come on Bro, everything will be fine," Mario spoke up reassuredly as the two of them stood to head for the casino. It was just poker after all. How bad could it be?

Upon entering the casino, the Mario brothers found Pennington already seated at the table, waiting, with Waluigi standing by his side, arms folded, foot tapping, face irritable, and ring in hand. If Waluigi's alibi was true, that would be the first time he'd been in the casino since he'd gotten fired. And it was obvious that he detested even being there at all, let alone for something as stupid as a game of poker for "evidence".

"Ah, just in time," Pennington spoke up as Mario and Luigi approached, Mario taking his seat across the table from him and Luigi standing at his station to the side, between them. "Are you ready to play?" Pennington asked, an oddly steely determination in both his look and his voice.

"Yeah. Five hands right?" Mario responded, not allowing Pennington to falter his confidence at all. The odds may have been stacked in the penguin's favor already, but Mario had to keep his cool if he hoped to stand a chance against this supposed poker master.

"Correct. Five hands. And fifty coins in chips for each of us," Pennington confirmed, motioning towards the stack of chips that he had already prepared for the match. "Whomever has the most chips at the end wins."

With that, Luigi began to shuffle the deck of provided cards quickly and randomly. Mario knew that his brother would never agree to the idea of cheating, especially considering how defensive he was about how a good hand didn't automatically equate to a winning game. Still though, Mario wished that Luigi would at least give him one freebie hand. At the moment though, the red plumber couldn't help but feel just a little uncomfortable, due to Waluigi's presence right next to his opponent.

"Could Waluigi go somewhere else?" Mario asked suddenly, causing his brother to stop his shuffling as he first looked at Mario, then over at Waluigi, who glared at Mario in response to the suggestion. Pennington looked up at Waluigi himself, shortly before the tall man scoffed and turned his back on the group.

"First I have to bring this ring, now I can't even watch the game," he muttered angrily before suddenly turning back to the group and stepping over to the table, opposite of where Luigi was stationed. He slammed the ring down onto the side of the table before turning to leave the casino. "Screw this. If I can't even watch, why should I stay?"

Nobody tried to stop him as he left. He was right, there wasn't really much point in his staying if he was going to just sit in a corner the entire time. He already made a stab at proving his innocence by returning the ring after all. So now, the ring simply rested on the side of the table, waiting for one man or the other to claim it as a prize. And once again, Luigi began his shuffling. The game was to begin.

Luigi soon leaned over to Mario, motioning for him to cut the deck. Mario placed the cutting card near the top of the deck, and was then dealt his five cards: 5 of spades, 6 of spades, 8 of diamonds, a jack of spades, and a queen of diamonds. Basically, junk. Mario glanced off to the side as he tapped the table twice, signaling that he would check. However, he quickly recalled that not looking at his cards was a tell that he had a bad hand. He quickly returned his focus to his cards, dearly hoping that Pennington didn't catch him in the act. And that he wouldn't understand exactly what it stood for.

"I'll open with five coins," Pennington announced, grabbing one of his 5-coin chips and placing it in the center of the table. Mario observed him closely as he did so.

Nothing.

There wasn't a single tell to be found. But did that mean he had a good hand? Could Mario bluff his way past this? What if he couldn't? He had nothing for a hand after all... Nah, it'd be better to just play it safe this time.

"I fold," Mario announced, shoving his hand away. A five coin lead into the second hand wasn't too advantageous, Mario could make it up in no time. Pennington revealed his hand, showing that he only had a pair of 2's, just barely better than a junk hand. Maybe Mario should have jumped on the opportunity after all. But no matter. He still had forty-five coins left and four hands to get back into the game.

The second hand was dealt. A 4 of diamonds, a 5 of clubs, a 6 of diamonds, an 8 of spades, and a 7 of hearts. A straight flush on the second hand! Now that was good news-...wait a minute, did he just...

Mario glanced over at Luigi. He looked panicked. That said it all; Mario's mustache twitched. Big time. He just had to hope beyond hope that Pennington _didn't_ notice...

"I'll open with ten coins," Mario announced, keeping his voice level as he tossed in his 10-coin chip. Pennington immediately laid his hands down on the table though, face up.

"Fold," he stated right off the bat. His cards amounted to a pile of junk. Mario opted not to show his hand in an attempt to keep the meaning behind his tell a secret, handing his cards to Luigi face down. Pennington handed his 10-coin chip to Mario, now giving the plumber a five coin lead. The tides had turned, thankfully, but just barely, and only because he got a very good hand against Pennington's useless one. Mario hoped he'd be able to keep his meager lead though.

The next hand of cards were dealt, and Mario quickly identified that he had a three of a kind. Not a bad hand, but not exactly somethig to cheer about. At the very least, his neutrality about the quality of the cards kept Mario from leaning towards any tells; he managed to keep a completely straight face. He then looked over at Pennington, who seemed to be mulling over his cards as well.

Pennington adjusted his hat.

Was that a tell? It seemed like more of a nervous gesture, so, did that mean Pennington had a bad hand? But Luigi said that Pennington was all over the place with his tells right? If it did mean something, Mario couldn't really know for sure... Man, this game was getting a lot more stressful than Mario originally anticipated. Deciding to toss away his thoughts for a moment and see what Pennington would do, Mario checked.

"I'll open with twenty coins," Pennington declared, placing the necessary chips in front of him.

Twenty coins!? Wow. That was pretty bold. But, if he was bluffing, then he was just lying through his teeth. Still though, Mario really couldn't tell...

"I'll raise you ten," Mario said, placing thirty coins in chips in the center of the table, hoping his three of a kind was a better hand at this point. Pennington eyed the pot suspiciously. He was seriously considering if it was worth it to raise again. And there he went with the hat again, not seeming to adjust it nervously or confidently. Just adjusting it. Mario felt that he just _had_ to have the better hand though.

"I'll call," Pennington said, adding ten more coins' worth of chips into the pot. Mario felt a small burst of confidence as he laid down his cards.

"Three of a kind. In kings," he displayed, attempting to sound neutral despite the feeling that he would be winning this hand. But that wasn't completely certain just yet. "What do you have?"

Pennington revealed his cards. "Full House."

...Mario didn't know how to respond to that. Pennington soon leaned forward and pulled the entire pot to his side of the table.

"Well that's the luck of the cards, eh?" Pennington spoke up, still without a hint of any kind of emotion in his voice as he stacked the chips up neatly before him.

"But...you looked so nervous. You were even messing around with your hat," Mario muttered, failing to comprehend what just happened. He was almost certain that that was a tell. It just had to be...

"It was a double bluff Bro," Luigi commented, admittedly impressed by Pennington's performance as he took back the cards and began to shuffle once again. "It's when you pretend that you have a bad hand when you actually have a good one. It's a lot more difficult to pull off than it sounds."

The tone in Luigi's voice told Mario that Pennington was actually even better than Luigi originally thought. Which certainly was not a good thing for the brothers.

Mario almost expected Pennington to say something cocky about having such a big lead or in response to Luigi's obvious admiration, but the Bumpty remained completely silent. It seemed that he reserved any words he would be speaking for the game and the game alone.

With only twenty-five in chips and two hands left, Mario wasn't sure if he'd be able to redeem himself before the game was over. In one fell swoop, he had only half of what he started with. But, then again, if he'd sunk so low after just one hand, who was to say he couldn't turn it back around just as quickly?

Five more cards dealt to each player. Mario found himself with 2 pairs: a set of 9's and a set of 4's, as well as a 3 of spades. Most definitely not the best hand out there. But he did manage to keep himself steady this time. He didn't look away from his cards immediately and only looked up to place his bet.

"I'll open with five coins." Mario said, tossing in one of his 5-coin chips.

"I'll raise you five," Pennington announced, tossing a 10-coin chip into the pot.

"I'll raise you three coins." Mario said. He didn't exactly have a lot to put on the line if this hand went bad.

"I'll raise you ten."

" _Come on, give me a break," Mario thought growing more and more worried with each passing raise. His hand was barely worth anything after all. "I'll call."_

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Are you going to show your cards?" Pennington asked after the long silence.

"You first," Mario demanded, obviously nervous about his hand. He didn't care about giving off any tells at this point; he was already at the point of no return for this hand.

"You called, so you should show yours first," Pennington responded.

"You could both show them at the same time," Luigi suggested, a little anxious to see just what each of them were holding. "One card at a time?"

"Fine by me," Pennington said.

"Sure," Mario agreed. Mario laid his hand on the table face down, as did his opponent, and flipped over the card on the far left to reveal a 9 of spades.

Pennington showed a 9 of diamonds.

Mario exposed his next card, a 9 of hearts. Pennington, a 9 of vlubs. Well, talk about a coincidence.

The next pair of cards were a 4 of spades and a 4 of clubs, respectively, followed by a 4 of hearts and a 4 of diamonds... They all had to admit, such an occurrence was a pretty big surprise. And since a full house was impossible for either person, what did that mean exactly?

"Whoever has the highest fifth card wins this hand," Luigi explained without having to be asked, more than a little anxious at this point. One card would be the deciding factor in whether or not victory would even be possible for Mario. If he lost this hand, that would be it. There would be no returning from the pitifully small amount of chips he'd have left after that. And it wasn't like his final card was exactly up to snuff either...

Mario flipped his final card; the 3 of spades. Among the worst cards in the entire deck. It was a bit premature, but Mario couldn't help but feel that he'd already lost the whole game. Before he could fall into too deep of a depression though, Luigi caught his attention and pointed out the last card Pennington had flipped over.

It was a 2 of hearts. And Mario felt as if his own heart were going to stop at the sheer shock of seeing that he'd actually _won_ the hand.

"Very lucky 'Mario'. That was a close one indeed," Pennington congratulated as Mario brought the chips over to his side. It was understandable if Pennington was shocked by the development, but, like the pro he was, his tone remained completely neutral in interest of remaining in his mindset. But that still didn't mean Mario was in the clear. Even with this winning, he had forty-eight coins. Pennington had fifty-two.

And so, the final hand was dealt. Mario received an 8 of clubs, an ace of clubs, an 8 of spades, an ace of spades, and a jack of diamonds. A subpar two pairs yet again, but still a little bit of a better hand than his last. And this was the last hand. He was behind. He'd have to play this round carefully.

"I'll open with five coins," Mario announced, tossing the proper chip to the middle of the table. Pennington was forced to play whether he had a bad hand or not, because folding would end in Mario's immediate victory.

"I'll raise thirty coins," Pennington announced, tossing in several chips to both Mario's and Luigi's surprise.

Was he kidding? Thirty coins!? That had to be the best hand in the history of man! For a second, Mario honestly and understandably felt afraid, but he soon remembered that it really didn't matter how many coins were in the pot at this point. Whoever won this hand won the entire game. The massive bet was simply a scare tactic, and it almost worked.

"All in," Mario countered, giving Pennington a taste of his own medicine. Pennington simply nodded, shoving all but four coins worth of chips into the pot. Things like tells and bluffing didn't matter now. The game boiled down to who had the better hand. And hopefully, two pairs was the better hand.

They both placed their cards on the table face down as before, opting to reveal their cards one at a time yet again.

Mario revealed his 8 of clubs. Pennington turned over a king of hearts.

Mario showed his ace of clubs. Pennington showed another king, this time of the diamond variety. Mario began to worry now. Pennington already revealed himself to have at least one pair. Hopefully he didn't have a third king...

An 8 of spades emerged from Mario's hand next, completing his first pair. Pennington revealed a 7 of spades. Mario was relieved. Mario's next card, the ace of spades, completed his second pair. Pennington pulled out a jack of spades.

Yes! At the last second, it seemed Mario pulled off a victory for the ring! The look on Luigi's face wasn't quite so certain however. His work as a card dealer exposed him to plenty of tricky plays in the past, and he stayed wary of Pennington, not knowing whether he was pulling a said trick by not showing his cards in any real order or if he really did lose the game. But, moments later, his question would soon be answered.

Pennington flipped his final card: a king of spades.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Your last card?" Pennington asked calmly. He already knew the result though. Mario's sudden reluctance said it all.

Mario flipped his final card, a useless jack of diamonds. Two pairs versus a three of a kind. Mario had lost.

"Well, I believe that makes me the winner eh!?" Pennington announced, finally allowing himself to break out of his game face and smile at Mario smugly before reaching over to grab his prize: Don Pianta's platinum ring.

"...But..." was all Mario could mutter as he and his brother stared at Pennington in silent shock. Mario was so close too. But one card stood in the way of him and victory.

"And would you look at that, it appears that I won every chip on the table as well. I must say 'Mario', it was close at points, but let's face it. You never stood a chance against the penguin with the improbably large brain."

With a smile and a wave goodbye, Pennington exited the casino to head for his cabin, leaving the dumbfounded brothers to curse their horrible luck.

---

"So you lost with a 'Dead Man's Hand'?" Luigi asked from across the table, snapping Mario's attention back to the present as Luigi looked back at the passage in the book. "That's pretty creepy if you ask me."

"Yeah, but what's done is done I guess," Mario muttered, leaning to the side against the wall underneath the wet window. "Pennington won, fair and square." There was an obvious hint of agitation in his voice as he said this, blatantly referring to the suggestion he made last night to cheat. Luigi understood why Mario seemed upset and defended himself immediately.

"You know I couldn't bring myself to actually cheat Bro," Luigi argued with a sigh. "I'm still surprised you even suggested it. Besides, I did explain to you why it wouldn't have worked anyway."

"I guess," Mario mumbled, adjusting in his seat slightly to sit up a bit more erectly. Something suddenly struck his mind. "But, there was something about last night I think I should ask you about. Something I overheard."

"What is it?" Luigi inquired.

"It was when Waluigi was reading your diary to Daisy," Mario began. "I think I overheard him read something about Toad." Luigi carried a blank expression.

"You have to be more specific. I've written about him a few times now," Luigi explained. "Like that time I forgot my casino uniform at a train station and I had to borrow one from him. Or that other time he accidently messed up my drink and I spent all night hurling in the bathroom."

Huh, pleasant.

"I think I heard something about a letter. One that was addressed to him, but you read it by accident."

"Oh. That." And nothing more was said about the subject as Luigi awkwardly averted his gaze to the grey, moist outdoor scenery. Mario's skepticism only rose.

"What was it about?"

"It's personal Mario, I can't tell you," Luigi responded dodgily. "He made me promise not to tell anyone. And even if he didn't, I still probably wouldn't say anything." Silence hung in the air for a moment as Mario tried to figure out why Luigi was being so hush hush about the subject. Luigi soon spoke once again however. "Why do you want to know all of a sudden anyway?"

"Well, Toad's my friend too," Mario replied slowly. Luigi could see his mind was rather splayed in its current condition. "If he was crying about it, I want to know what it was."

"...You're gonna have to ask him if you want to know, I can't tell you," Luigi said, staying firm on him promise to keep the knowledge to himself. And Mario respected that.

Well, either that, or he was just too tired to care very much at the moment.

He reared his head back to rest it against the cushion of the booth, closing his eyes in a sudden attempt at a bit of sleep. The rest wouldn't last for very long, if at all however. A voice soon erupted all throughout the dining room.

"WHAT! IS! THIS!?" Yoshi's very clearly agitated voice thundered, attracting Mario's and Luigi's attention immediately. Both brothers looked over in his direction. Between Yoshi and the brothers stood the waitress, who watched on with a worried look on her face as Yoshi confronted Chef Shimi, the bill to last night's dinner resting in the former's hand. "THERE ARE FALSE CHARGES ON THIS BILL!"

"Well, it isn't my vault!" Chef Shimi answered with just as much energy. "Gah, my **fault**!"

"Well I'm _not_ paying this bill until these charges are corrected!" Yoshi replied angrily.

"How are the charges in this fill false in any way!?" Shimi shouted back, now not caring to correct himself as he fell into the moment of the argument.

"Just look at it! _Mushroom Burger_!? _STEAK_!? I'm gagging just thinking about it!" Yoshi explained.

"Well you were eating so much last night how can you tell what you did and didn't feet!?" Chef Shimi asked. Luigi invisibly shot Mario an "I-told-you-so" look about the slip of tongue.

"Because I'm a VEGETARIAN!" Yoshi shot back, stamping his foot in anger. "The thought of eating some dead animal's insides grosses me out! And I'm _not_ going to pay for what I obviously didn't eat."

"Fine, and I won't feel you either!" Chef Shimi shouted, turning his back to Yoshi in a huff to return to tending the day's lunch menu.

"I don't **want** you to feel me!" Yoshi exclaimed, disgusted. Chef Shimi let out a loud, angry growl.

"I MEANT 'FEED'!" Chef Shimi shouted, clearly at the end of his rope.

"So, what, you're just going to let a passenger starve!?" Yoshi asked.

"Until you pay your dill, yes! And I'm allowed to do that!"

"FINE! I don't care! Your food sucks anyways!" Yoshi shot back before childishly sticking his tongue at the chef. "Four star restaurant my **TAIL**!!"

With that, Yoshi stormed out of the restaurant, leaving behind an atmosphere of shocked silence. Thank goodness it was so early and there were no other passengers in the room besides Mario and Luigi. It certainly served to wake the both of them up a fair bit, and Mario soon took notice of the waitress's distraught composure. She seemed a little shaken and distressed about what just happened. Wanting to see if she knew what was going on, Mario called her over. She obliged and arrived at the table in moments.

"What was that about?" Mario asked, causing the waitress to look up toward the ceiling immediately as she jittered about on the spot.

"_Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm..........................._" she droned airily, appearing to think deeply about whether or not to actually tell Mario about what happened. After a while though, she figured she may as well spill the beans about what she did. It wouldn't really help to keep it a secret. "Well, you know when I like, told you I had dinner covered for you and the princess last night?" she asked, prompting a nod from Mario in response. "Um...well, like, see, I _said_ it was on me, but um...like, I noticed that Yoshi guy was like, totally pigging out on basically the entire menu. So like, I actually transferred your tab to his bill 'cause I thought he wouldn't even notice, and like, yeah..."

"You transferred it to his bill?" Mario asked, surprised about the information as waitress nodded in affirmation. "But you said you were going to cover it."

"Well, yeah, I know, and like, if I had the money, I _so_ would have, trust me," the waitress responded somewhat pleadingly, obviously deeply remorseful about what she'd done. "But I'm like, barely scraping by right now. I know I shouldn't have offered to pay for it myself, but I was just so like, caught up in the moment, you know? It was so sweet that you were going on a date and I wanted to help, even though I'm like, _flat_ broke right now..."

"How come you're strapped for cash?" Luigi asked. "I see you working on every trip. You should have plenty of money saved up."

"Well, not 'plenty'," the waitress corrected with a sigh. "This job like, doesn't really pay _that_ well. I was saving my money a while ago though, but like, a few months ago, right before the casino opened on the train, I was robbed! Some dirty thief just broke into my home while I was working on a voyage to Toad Town and like, stole everything that wasn't nailed to the ground! My TV, my _doll collection_, they even took my sil-..."

The waitress suddenly fell silent and looked away from the two brothers instantly, a saddened, disturbed look on her face now. She seemed to only just remember one item in particular that she had a close attachment to, and the simple thought of it nearly rendered her to tears immediately. Both Mario and Luigi picked up on the sudden shift in emotion immediately and silently wondered if they should ask her to go on or just let her keep with her silence. It wasn't long before she seemed to choke down her overwhelming emotions though and complete what she was just about to say.

"My silver hairpin," she finally said, still not looking at the two brothers. "Like...that hairpin was the most important thing ever to me. My mom gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday, right before I moved out. It's been in the family for like, five generations; it was a tradition for the mother to pass it down when her daughter turned eighteen. But...it's gone now... I only had it for like, six years, and it's already gone..."

Mario and Luigi felt that they couldn't really grasp how horrible that must have felt. To have such a long standing family tradition be so abruptly brought to an end like that because the heirloom was stolen under your own care. Coming back to find an empty home must have been devastating enough in itself, but learning that a generations-old item has been stolen from you? It said a lot about the waitress's character that she seemed so easily able to be so happy-go-lucky while in the workplace. Not many would have been able to keep that up after such a thing happened to them.

And, little to the brothers' knowledge, that wasn't even the entirety of the already dismal story. Almost involuntarily, the waitress muttered to herself loudly enough for both brothers to hear, as if she'd forgotten they were even there.

"That was like, _the_ worst day ever," she muttered, a trickle of tears now escaping her eyes as she let out a tiny sniffle. "That was the day he broke up with me too... And the day that stupid Pianta turned me down without even giving me a chance..."

Stupid Pianta? She couldn't have been talking about the deceased Pianta that still lied dead in the cabin of the eighth car could she?

"What stupid Pianta?" Luigi asked before Mario could, not having taken a moment to even think about who she might be referring to. The waitress snapped out of her reverie immediately and stared over at Luigi with slightly widened eyes, as if she believed he'd just read her mind. Apparently, she actually didn't even realize that she was speaking aloud. She took a moment to apparently think about whether she should go into it or not, but eventually figured she may as well.

"Yeah, that orange casino Pianta guy that like, died the other night," she answered, confirming Mario's suspicions and surprising Luigi. "I'm so sorry about calling him stupid; like, I hate to speak ill of the dead. When I thought about that day though, it like, brought back some emotions, you know? It just kind of slipped out."

"What did Don Pianta do to you?" Mario asked, prompting a sigh from the waitress immediately. She seemed to grow suddenly self-conscious as she prepared to give her answer.

"Well, like...this all happened back when he was just opening his casino," she answered rather slowly, as if checking the words she spoke as she went along. "See, I live in an apartment right now...an _empty_ apartment right now, but yeah...and I've been like...trying to save up some money so I could hopefully buy my own house someday."

Mario noticed that every time the waitress broke up her sentence with the word "like", she suddenly stopped and seemed to mentally scold herself for doing it. She said it so many times already though, he thought she didn't really care about it.

"I noticed that the base pay for a barmaid would be higher than the pay I get right now," she continued, "Plus, I figured everyone would be all drunk and stuff anyway, so like...I would probably get better tips too. So I tried to arrange for an interview with the Pianta guy but he like...told me flat-out that he 'had no use for a woman of my caliber', and said all these mean things about me, calling me ditsy and and telling me my head was in the clouds and stuff... Isn't that just horrible? He didn't even give me a chance and he insulted me at the same time. It made me feel terrible.

"And, on top of that, I'm pretty sure he was a sexist," she suddenly added to the surprise of both brothers. It was understandable if she was angry at him for turning her down and demeaning her character, but to call him a sexist was a bit much just for that one incident.

"He had at least two women working for him in the past though," Mario noted. "Peeka and Lahla worked at his item shop and at the Pianta Parlor."

"And I hear those two worked in the casino right after it opened too," Luigi added, a tidbit of information Mario hadn't known. "Toad was the only man working in it back then." The waitress was quick to counter this.

"Well, yeah, but they only worked in the casino for like, a week before he got rid of them," the waitress retorted immediately, appearing to no longer care about how she spoke. "When he moved Lahla and Peeka to the casino, he made Vinny and Tony, his two right-hand men, work in the shop and the parlor. Then, like, just a _week_ later, he hired that yellow Wario guy and his purple friend to take Lahla's and Peeka's places. And what happened to them after that? They were just let go!"

That was pretty suspicious of him, Mario had to admit. Still though, it was hard to believe that Don Pianta was a sexist. He did help Mario in his adventure after all, partially because he was moved by the fact that Mario was going through all the trouble for Peach's sake. And what about the case with Waluigi?

"Waluigi was fired too," Mario spoke up, attempting to make a case that Don Pianta was more fair than the waitress made him out to be. She simply shook her head at him though, now deeply crested into her argumentative state of mind.

"He was fired for like, _stealing_ on the job. Anybody would be let go over that," the waitress responded. "There was like, absolutely _no_ reason for Lahla and Peeka to be let go. They didn't do anything wrong. And besides, who did the casino guy replace him with anyway?" she added, signalling to Luigi accusingly, causing him to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Another _man_."

Luigi suddenly felt as if the entire situation was his fault, despite the fact he had nothing to do with anything. And Mario noticed this pretty quickly. The waitress was getting pretty riled up over this, which was understandable, she was making a point about sexism after all. But he saw that she seemed to be making Luigi feel uncomfortable on purpose, as if the green brother were hired solely because he was a man and didn't deserve the job. Though, admittedly, Luigi's hiring was influenced by his relation to Mario, so it wasn't a completely fair thing, but he was still good at what he did. But, even if the waitress wasn't mounting a personal attack against Luigi, this seemed pretty obvious to him.

"Sorry about getting so worked up like that," the waitress apologized after taking a deep breath. "Like, I try not to let my feelings out around customers, I didn't mean to start yelling at you or anything."

"It's okay," Mario assured simply as he took notice of Wario entering the cab with an empty stomach and a greedy look on his face. The waitress took note of this as well and prepared herself to go over and greet him.

"Well, I hope you two have a good morning," the waitress said, setting herself back into her regular, cheerful mood. With that, she was off to take Wario's order. And Mario simply watched after her for a moment. Luigi quickly took interest.

"Something on your mind Bro?" Luigi asked, clearly seeing the gears working in Mario's head.

Mario turned to look over at Luigi, a rather solemn look on his face. "I think I just found a new suspect."

* * *

**How's he looking doc?**

**Well, the medical equipment should keep him technically alive for a few more days, but we'll need 150cc's of reviews before we can begin operation. Until we can find some donors, I don't think the kid will pull through.**

******You guys heard that right? So please leave a review- OR ELSE WIMPZILLA WILL DIE!!!**


	9. Day Three: Saturday Afternoon

_Ow, my head... Wait, where am I?_

**Oh hey, you're awake.**

_'Awake'? What's going on? How long have I been asleep?_

**Um... About two months.**

_TWO MONTHS!?_

**Give or take a few days.**

_How did I sleep for two months!?_

**Well the surgery went perfectly fine, but - don't tell the doc - I _may_ have slipped you some Tylenol in your food.**

_...Why?_

**Well one of the reviewers, filled with concern about your safety, suggested that I give you Tylenol. "Lots of Tylenol" as a matter of fact. So I slipped a few pills into your taco.**

_How many pills exactly?_

**Like I said, just a few. Like, two.**

_Well, that doesn't sound-_

**Four...**

_...I guess-_

**Eight...**

_Uh-_

**Forty. I put forty Tylenol pills into your taco.**

…

…

…

**...You're not upset that I caused you to fall into a coma for two months?**

_...I'm more concerned about how I didn't notice forty pills crammed into my taco...

* * *

_

**Day Three - Saturday Afternoon**

_Mario "The 'Stache" Segale was a cautious gambler of sorts, known always to seat himself in a corner as to not be shot from behind. On the evening of August 26th, 1876, unable to find a corner, The 'Stache took a chair in Don Pianta's Casino Car facing one door, his back to another..._

_The 'Stache was dealt his hand. An eight of clubs, an ace of clubs, an eight of spades, and an ace of spades were the last things he would see before being plunged into the everlasting embrace of darkness. He died that night, of a .45 bullet through the skull._

_Falling helplessly through the darkness, The 'Stache could see everything. The owner of the Casino, Don Pianta, was dead as well, poisoned by an unknown culprit. And the very man closest to The 'Stache was backed into a corner, surrounded by the train's passengers. That man was blamed as the killer almost immediately._

_That man was his brother._

_The 'Stache could do nothing as the fellow patrons of the train enclosed around his trembling brother, accusing him, without remorse, of the murder of the Don. The feeble man in green cowered, cried, pleaded endlessly, repeating over and over that he did nothing wrong. That he was not a killer. His voice was drowned out though, overridden by those who used to be his friends, but were now simply his accusers. And, at the head of the group, stood the very person that would work hardest to seal the poor man's fate. The penguin, known to possess an improbably large brain, simply laughed, and The 'Stache was forced to watch as his little brother was forced away from the corner, and into a police cruiser that was ready and waiting to take him off to spend the rest of his years behind the cold steel bars that would be his prison._

_The 'Stache screamed, pleaded for his brother's release. He was innocent. He couldn't have killed the Don. But no words came forth. No noise escaped at all. Except the sound of a broken brother's tears as he accepted his fate. To spend the rest of his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit..._

_Darkness surrounded The 'Stache once more as he continued to fall head first. He reached down, toward the unseeable sky that was escaping him, and was soon approached by the faint glimmer of what appeared to be a card._

_"AHAHAHAHA!! Looks like it's too late for your brother now!"_

_Bow's voice chastised the gambler as the card revealed itself to display the image of a pink feather. The card circled around The 'Stache's head mockingly as the Boo's voice continued. "Way to go 'Stache! For once, you failed! And now he's gone forever!"_

_"Good riddance," Waluigi's voice spoke up as a card displaying Don Pianta's platinum ring fell out of the sky to join the feather card, circling around The 'Stache's head as well. "Even if he didn't do it, who cares. It's about time he was rubbed out of the picture."_

_The 'Stache could say nothing in response as he closed his eyes and brought his arm back to his side. They were right. He'd failed his brother. There was nothing he could do to stop him from being taken away..._

_"Bro..."_

_The 'Stache's eyes opened once more to behold the sight of a third card. This one carried the image of a broken thermometer, and it spoke Luigi's frightened voice. But, unlike the previous two cards, this one remained completely stationary._

_"...Help me..."_

_The 'Stache's descent was over. He could feel himself crashing into the ground below._

Mario jolted out of his nightmare with a start, reeling his head up and away from the table it was previously resting on immediately. He'd been sleeping face down on his poker book, and discovered that he'd left a small puddle of drool in his wake. It was still opened to the page detailing the Dead Man's Hand.

Disoriented by his sudden awakening, Mario slowly took in his surroundings. He was still in the restaurant. There was a bowl of unfinished Mushroomios to his right, next to the empty box that previously held the cereal. Continuing to the right, Mario could see that the weather had let up at some point. It was only partly cloudy now, and he could see that it was right around noon.

Before long, Luigi's voice could be heard ringing out from nearby, immediately reminding Mario of the final portion of his dream involving the series of cards. Luigi's was a thermometer, the only piece of evidence Mario managed to keep...

Good. After digging around his pockets for a moment, he discovered the item in question and took it out for a moment, taking a peek at its blue base. Mario was thankful the thing was still there. For a moment, he'd thought someone might have sneaked over and lifted it from him. "Someone" namely referring to Pennington.

"This whole thing is all my fault, isn't it?" Daisy could be heard muttering from the table directly behind Mario. Mario tucked the thermometer back into his pocket, but didn't move an inch after that. Perhaps eavesdropping would be the best tactic in this situation.

"Don't say that Daisy," Luigi responded. He was seated across from Daisy, "How is this your fault?"

"If I didn't blurt out that you were the last person in Don Pianta's room, you probably wouldn't even be wrapped up in this mess," Daisy reasoned, sounding crestfallen about her own inability to just keep quiet. Luigi rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced out the window.

"Well, everyone was still in shock at the time," Luigi reminded, attempting to comfort his distressed beau, "I don't blame you for the situation I'm in at all. Pennington probably would have blamed me for the murder anyway, knowing my rotten luck." Luigi chuckled.

Daisy wasn't amused.

"At least Mario's on the case, right?" Luigi spoke up again, still trying vainly to lighten Daisy's spirits. "He'll pull through."

"...I guess you're right," Daisy mumbled, clearly less convinced of Mario's capabilities herself. "Can't really say I'm totally sold on the idea that he'll figure all this out. How far has he even gotten in the case?" Luigi's eyes suddenly widened, for he wasn't really all _that_ informed on just how much Mario had accomplished so far.

"Er...I know he has that broken thermometer..." he stammered with an unsure frown. "And um...uh... Well, I'm sure he's investigating all he can." Daisy glowered at Luigi, only making him all the more uncomfortable. She soon let out a sigh and sunk back into her chair, arms folded across her chest.

"Yeah, I'm sure Mario's absolutely breaking this case wide open," Daisy mocked. "He's such an innovative investigator too. What's the name of the technique he's been using for the last four hours? You know, the one where he looks like he's sleeping and drooling all over a poker book?"

At some point, once he realized the couple was talking about him, Mario had turned around in his chair and watched the two of them converse. Luigi, having taken notice of this, cleared his throat matter-of-factly and pointed toward the brother in red, indicating that Daisy should probably take a look over her shoulder.

"Ah!" Daisy yelped as she was greeted with Mario's glaring face. She gave a slight jump and immediately stood from her seat, rubbing the back of her head nervously as she gave out a weak chuckle. "Hey there Mario!" she squeaked. She cleared her throat to steady her voice. "You're awake!"

"Yup," Mario muttered in response rather harshly, letting Daisy know that he heard the snide remarks the entire time in one word. Daisy knew she messed up and didn't really know what to say. It was obvious that Mario really was trying his hardest to prove his brother innocent, it was just, after all this time, it was beginning to feel like nothing was really being figured out...

The princess awkwardly turned her attention back to Luigi, her eyes pleading for a little backup to help make the situation a little better. Luigi merely gave off a weak chuckle though, opting not to really take either side. Daisy would just have to live with her slip-up for the time being.

With a nervous grumble, Daisy slowly allowed herself to recline back into the seat. Thankfully, the heavens had mercy on the incredibly awkward situation and scripted the waitress to show up at that very moment, bearing gifts in the form of meals for Luigi and Daisy.

"Alrighty, here you go!" the waitress piped up cheerily as she lowered a bowl from her tray onto the table in front of Luigi. "Mushroom Chowder for Mr. Luigi." She leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, I made sure the chef didn't do anything funky to it."

"Thank you," Luigi said, relieved, accepting the chowder with an appreciative smile.

"And a Triple-Stacker Mushroom Steak Burger for Miss Daisy," the waitress finished, serving the eagerly awaiting Daisy her morbidly oversized burger. How that woman kept her figure was a mystery Mario felt even the most accomplished detective would never be able to solve.

"Oh! Well, looks like somebody finally woke up!" the waitress spoke up happily, approaching Mario with a bright smile. "So like, are you hungry for some lunch Mr. Sleepy-Head?"

"No, I'm fine," Mario assured, unconsciously smiling in response to the waitress's animated attitude. "You're pretty peppy today." He added, remembering the blubbering ball of tears she was just a few hours ago.

"Tee-hee~! Yeah, you could say that," the waitress answered, bouncing energetically on the balls of her feet. "I guess that little confession I made earlier like, helped take a load off my mind."

Although Mario couldn't help but smile at the joyous waitress, he had a nagging feeling that she was keeping something from him. His feeling would soon be justified however, for the true reason behind the waitress's joy could be seen entering the restaurant a few moments later. Toad had made his way onto the scene from Car 3, and the waitress immediately took notice. Without a word, she rushed over and immediately embraced him in a tight hug. Taken by surprise, Toad chuckled and returned the hug half-heartedly, barely closing his arms around the waitress before she broke away.

"I'll ask for a break right now, okay?" she informed with a bright smile, her hands clasped shyly behind her back. "Get yourself comfortable. It feels like we haven't talked in like, forever."

Toad simply nodded in response and headed for the nearest table, which happened to be the one resting opposite Mario. Toad's seat had him positioned so his back was to Mario. Meanwhile, the waitress almost literally skipped over to Chef Shimi, who, after a brief exchange of words, simply grumbled in response. Soon, the waitress turned back and quickly returned to seat herself across from Toad, having been granted her break.

"So how are you doing Mister?" the waitress asked playfully. "I haven't seen you since we like, arrived at Riverside yesterday." Toad didn't seem quite as energetic as his table partner, for he answered in such a low tone that Mario couldn't hear him.

It was then that Mario had a decision to make. The waitress was still a very high suspect on his list, for she did have direct contact with the martini that took Don Pianta's life, not to mention she had something against the Don; a grudge that she seemed to take rather seriously if her venting that morning was any indication. Would it be wise to eavesdrop on her? If Mario decided to, he might end up missing something important from Luigi's and Daisy's conversation though...

"Luigi...you got some chowder stuck in your mustache," Daisy commented between bites of her giga-burger. Luigi swallowed his latest mouthful of soup and smiled at the princess.

"I know. I'm saving it for after lunch!" Luigi replied cheerily. Daisy shook her head as she continued to chew her mouthful of burger.

"That's gross."

She downed her bite and let out a belch.

It was decided then. The waitress it was.

Mario, taking unnecessary precautions to be secretive in his eavesdropping, slid beneath his table and crawled onto the seat directly behind where Toad was sitting. His move seemed to go unnoticed, for the conversation carried out without pausing at all.

"...do you think you're gonna do once we get to Poshley Heights?" Mario heard the waitress ask. He immediately figured that she was asking Toad about his future plans, a question to which the ex-bartender responded with a sigh.

"I don't know," he responded quietly, his mood appearing to be quite dampened. "That's all I've been thinking about since yesterday, but I just can't come up with anything... I guess I'll see when we actually get to Poshley Heights."

"...You know Toad, I'll do like, _anything_ I can to help," the waitress responded, almost pleadingly. "I already told you. All you have to do is ask." Toad sighed once more.

"No, I...you've already done so much for me," he stammered, "I just couldn't ask for you to help even more."

"But I want to."

Mario could only guess that they were talking about Toad's sudden lack of a job now that Don Pianta was gone. Now that he had no source of income, he'd have to find some kind of way to keep paying for Toadette's medical bills. But the waitress admitted just that morning that she was flat broke herself. So, if this was a problem of finances, what could she possibly hope to do?

"...Thank you," Toad sighed after an uncomfortably long pause. He didn't sound as if he were about to give in and take up the waitress on her offer though. He was a pretty solitary guy when it came to dealing with personal troubles. Burdening others with his own problems was something he tried to avoid at all times. However, his table partner wouldn't seem to give up so easily.

"You look a little pale Toad. Are you okay?" the waitress asked. Toad shifted a bit in his seat before speaking up with a slightly shaky voice.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just kinda scared," Toad replied. "I'm starting to regret talking to Mario yesterday, actually. He knows that I was really the last one with Don Pianta before he died. I felt I could trust him, because he's my friend, but now I'm not so sure. What if he turns everything I said around on me? What if he makes everyone believe that _I_ killed Don Pianta?"

When the waitress didn't say anything in response, Toad raised a suspicious eyebrow. It wasn't like her to just fall silent in the middle of a conversation like that. What could make her act that way all of a sudden?

Toad eventually caught on that she was staring at something. Something right over his shoulder.

Toad turned his head and glanced over his shoulder out of the side of his eye. The waitress was staring at Mario, who, apparently, had unconsciously turned in his seat once he heard his name crop up in the conversation. Startled, Mario quickly turned back to his table and pretended not to have heard a thing. Toad had caught him red-handed though, and fully turned in his seat to tap the plumber's shoulder. Mario gave a jolt before turning back around meekly, knowing he'd been found out.

"Did you want something Mario?" Toad asked casually. Mario's eyes quickly shot off to the right as he came up with a plausible lie before looking back at Toad with a weak smile.

"Oh, uh... I was just wondering if I could...borrow your salt shaker!" he lied with a small chuckle. He quickly reached over for his shaker, giving it a little jiggle to prove his point. Thankfully, it really was close to empty. "Mine's a bit low."

Toad raised an eyebrow at Mario, wondering why he seemed so nervous about just asking to borrow some salt. Regardless, he turned back to grab the shaker and handed it off to Mario, who received it with a smiling "thanks" and soon thereafter turned back to his own table. Toad may not have been wise as to what exactly Mario was doing, but the plumber could tell that the waitress knew he was eavesdropping. Why else would she just grow silent and stare at him like that?

Rattled by the fact he'd been discovered, Mario decided it may well be best not to try and listen in on the conversation any longer. He felt that, if he'd just be able to listen for a bit longer, one of the Toadstools would have said something that would help convict the waitress, but she was already wary of him. It wasn't likely he'd be able to hear anything very useful if that was the case. With a sigh, he absently stuck the salt shaker away into a pocket and leaned forward against the table.

Mario glanced back over at the table which Luigi and Daisy occupied. Though, at the moment, only Daisy was sitting there, while Luigi was just making his way back to the table after leaving for a brief moment. He had an irritated look on his face.

"So, I take it he didn't appreciate your advice on adding more salt to the chowder?" Daisy asked as Luigi dropped himself into his chair in a huff. Receiving an answer by way of a shake of the head, Daisy let out a sigh and threw her arm over the back of her chair. "You should probably just give it up. It's pretty obvious he won't be taking your advice anytime soon."

"I just don't get it though," Luigi started with an aggravated sigh, rubbing his forehead as he tried his best to control his frustration. "It feels like everybody on this train just hates me. I mean, I try to help Chef Shimi make his food a little better, and he just completely blows me off every single time I say anything. I'm trying to help him out. Why can't he just take a little constructive criticism?

"And, as if dealing with him on a daily basis wasn't enough, Waluigi's on this voyage too, and he just hates me for no reason whatsoever. I mean, who just goes and steals someone's dia-er, _journal_, and goes and reads it out loud to someone? That 'someone' being my _girlfriend_ no less!

"AND, on top of all that, I'm being blamed for a _murder_! I swear, it's like just being on this train is making me years older from all the stress and aggravation it's pushing on me. I think I might have a mental breakdown if one more bad thing happens today."

"ATTENTION MY FELLOW EXCESS EXPRESS PASSENGERS! THE MOMENT OF TRUTH HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, FOR I, DETECTIVE PENNINGTON, HAVE DISCOVERED THE CASE-BREAKING, CONCLUSIVE PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT WILL SETTLE THIS WHOLE MURDER MYSTERY ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Having apparently made his way into the restaurant at some point from Car 3, Pennington attracted the attention of everyone in the car as he triumphantly held a sheet of paper in the air above his head. Immediately, Luigi slammed his forehead onto the table before him, feeling that the heavens really did just hate him and were clearly intent on filling his life with misery and woe. Without lifting his head, Luigi grabbed the spoon he'd been using for his half-finished chowder and jutted it toward Daisy, who stared at it with a raised eyebrow.

"Daisy, take this spoon and kill me. Please."

"Ah, contemplating offing yourself now, are you!?" Pennington interjected, using his lightning fast reflexes to bat the spoon out of Luigi's hand. The man in green groaned as his hand dropped back to the table, but he still didn't lift his head. "It would be nice to end your heinous misery right now wouldn't it!? To toss away your past crimes as the sweet escape of death embraces you, whisking you away from the mortal world free of sin completely! Well, _I will not be allowing that to happen_, for I have finally found the evidence that will convict you once and for all!"

"And what's that?" Daisy asked flatly, annoyed by Pennington's theatrics as she investigated the piece of paper in his hand. "A bunch of swirly circles on some paper?"

"Swirly circles of _justice_!" Pennington corrected, slapping the paper on the table in the loudest, most grandiose gesture he could manage. Upon inspection, the paper was found to have one group of very large swirls on one side, while the other side held a group of considerably smaller swirls.

"...And those are...?" Daisy began.

"FINGERPRINTS!" Pennington shouted, the force of his sudden, booming screaming causing Luigi to shoot back up into his sitting position with wide, startled eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Mario asked from the next table over.

"Ah yes, you nearly got away with taking this most valuable ring last night," Pennington started with a smirk as he gave Mario a cocky glance from the side of his eye. "But Lady Luck, or should I say Lady _Justice_, delicately placed the ring into my reliable flippers by the end of the night. And using my lucky fingerprint dust..." Pennington explained, producing a can of fingerprint dust from his tote bag, "I was able to lift two quite distinct sets of fingerprints, the large set clearly belonging to the deceased, our most unfortunate Don Pianta...

"Leaving the smaller set to belong to the culprit!" he continued, giving Luigi a highly suggestive look. The green brother made it point to leer right back at him. Luigi was usually pretty docile in situations such as that, but, if his recent fuming was any indication, it was apparent that he was beginning to become fed up. "There is only one person we know for a fact that had come in contact with this ring... And that person..." Pennington quickly lifted his magnifying to his eye and closed in on Luigi's nose, making him rear back slightly, "_IS YOU 'LUIGI'_!"

Most of the rest of the passengers in the car began to make the appropriate hushed background noises, but found themselves soon cut off as Luigi, his temper flared to dangerous levels, slammed both his hands onto the table at once and stood immediately.

"I've never touched that ring in my life!" he shouted back defensively. "I never even _looked_ at that ring for longer than a couple seconds, and that was when I first met Don Pianta!"

"Then would you mind explaining just _how_ this ring appeared in _your_ diary!?" Pennington shouted much more loudly in retaliation. Luigi flinched slightly upon hearing the word "diary" and shot an involuntary glance at Daisy. Sure, the thing _was_ his diary, but he couldn't let Daisy know that he actually called it that.

"I don't know how it got into my _journal_, but I know I've never touched that ring!" he stated firmly.

"Well if you're so confident about your stance on this subject, surely you would not mind providing me with a few fingerprints for analysis," Pennington retorted smugly, pushing an ink pad onto the table eagerly. Little did he expect Mario to enter himself into the conversation, with a very matter-of-factly tone at that.

"You know Pennington, you're wasting your time. You've already proven pretty well that those fingerprints aren't Luigi's," Mario pointed out with a smile from his seat, causing the Bumpty detective to shoot him a questioning glance. Luigi, however, simply smiled, for he felt he knew exactly what Mario was getting at.

"What? How do you figure that?" Pennington demanded, his arms folded as a genuinely confused look occupied his face.

"It's pretty simple if you're just a little observant," Mario teased. "The fact that you found any fingerprints that weren't Don Pianta's on the ring proves that _someone_ stole it."

"Of course," Pennington acknowledged, though he still didn't know where Mario was going with his reasoning.

"However, that very same discovery proves that Luigi could not have done it," Mario continued, holding his smile. "Because, in case you haven't noticed," Mario lifted up his hand and pointed at the glove that he always wore to help accentuate the point, "Luigi _always_ wears a pair of gloves. _Always_."

Pennington's eyes widened immediately as he shot his attention back to Luigi, who, with a smile still on his face, held up his very gloved hand, just as his brother did. Indeed, Luigi was quite known for wearing his gloves at all times.

"He's got you there 'Detective'," Daisy mocked. "It's pretty impossible to leave fingerprints anywhere when you've always got gloves on."

Satisfied, Luigi took his seat once more as Pennington's eye seemed to twitch, as did his improbably large brain. He was so sure that Luigi stole that ring, but Mario and Daisy were right. If he actually did steal the ring, he wouldn't have left behind any fingerprints at all. Unless he took off his gloves before doing it, but why in the world would he do that? It would have been a totally illogical move...

Gah. The one piece of breakthrough evidence Pennington was so sure would convict Luigi once and for all actually somewhat served to prove his innocence!

"We can only assume that ring was actually stolen by someone who could have possibly left fingerprints," Mario stated, shooting a subtle glance at the waitress. _She_ certainly could have used the money from it after all... "And that only leaves a few choice suspects," he continued, returning his gaze to Pennington, "which includes you."

"M-Me!?" Pennington squeaked, his forehead breaking out into a sweat at the very proposition of the idea.

"Yep. Your flipper is like one giant finger after all, isn't it? And, aside from Waluigi – who also wears gloves all the time – you're the only person I've seen even touch the ring. So, really, how do we know that it wasn't _you_ who stole it?"

Everyone knew that the logic of Mario's reasoning was slightly flawed, considering Pennington's flipper was quite smooth and had the same texture all over. To the best of anyone's knowledge, it would have been impossible for him to leave any prints on the ring. At least, not prints that looked anything like normal ones.

But, of course, in his panic, Pennington failed to put two and two together in his overheating brain and began a repeat of the awkward situation that occurred at Riverside station yesterday afternoon.

"It's true! IT'S ALL TRUE!" Pennington shouted, holding his flippers to the side of his head as if his brain were about to explode. "You caught me! It was me all along! I'm the killer! I'm a _murderer_! (...Perhaps.)"

"Calm down Pennington," Mario sighed. "I wasn't really-"

"They'll catch me! They'll throw me in jail! My reputation that I spent so many years building up will be shattered into a million pieces! I-I can't let that happen! I can't go on like this!" Pennington shouted, losing all shreds of sanity in the meantime. Daisy was slightly taken aback by the sudden display, while Mario buried his forehead in his palm and shook his head slowly. Luigi simply smiled at the Bumpty, but his expression would quickly turn south as Pennington scrambled up onto the top of the dining table, knocking over Luigi's half-full bowl of steaming hot chowder right into his lap. Amid the green brother's screams of excruciating pain, Pennington quickly unlocked the nearby window, slid it open, and stood at its sill, his eyes streaming forth tears of guilt and he prepared to jump. "Detective Pennington chooses death!!"

Though it was really pretty unlikely he'd do much more than give himself a few scrapes and bruises, since the train was only going a fraction of its normal speed. But that was beside the point.

Daisy and Mario were quick to react, both of them getting from their seats immediately to grab Pennington by the shoulders. They succeeded in yanking him from the window and pinning his squirming self to the table.

"Unhand me you cads!" Pennington shouted, trying unsuccessfully to break free of Mario's and Daisy's grasp. "I can't be taken away! I won't-"

Mario slapped Pennington across the face as hard as he could.

"Get a hold of yourself Pennington! You're being irrational!" Mario commanded.

"But-But-I'll be arrested and thrown behind bars-"

Mario gave him another good smack.

"We haven't proven you've done anything!" Mario retaliated. "Hurting yourself isn't the answer here Pennington!"

A moment of relative silence passed over the train, the sound of Pennington gasping for air being the only thing to fill everyone's ear. He took a little while to regain his bearings and calm down a bit. His mental breakdown caused him to black out for a moment.

"Oh, well, sorry about that-"

Daisy slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Mario and Pennington immediately stared at her, Pennington holding his reddened cheek in pain. Daisy looked back at the both of them, a slightly apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, I thought he was still delirious," she explained, clearing her throat awkwardly as she backed off from the now-sane Bumpty. Mario did the same, and Pennington was allowed to sit up and scoot himself off the edge of the table.

"As I mentioned yesterday, I just can't particularly handle pressure too well," Pennington reminded, brushing himself off and straightening his bow tie as he spoke. Luigi let out a disgruntled grumble.

"I say you should have just let him jump," he muttered as he angrily wiped the chowder stains out of his pants. Pennington gave Luigi an icy glare for his comment, while Daisy shed a secretive smile behind his back.

As Pennington and Luigi began to engage themselves in a fierce back and forth about Luigi's current hostility relating to Don Pianta's murder, Mario took notice of the paper of fingerprints that was still resting on the table. At this point, that sheet of paper would prove far more useful than the ring Pennington managed to snag last night. Heck, it was probably a good thing that Mario lost, or else those prints wouldn't have been discovered in the first place.

Making sure that nobody was paying him any mind, Mario subtly grabbed the sheet of paper, folded it in half with one hand, and tucked it away into a pocket. Nobody witnessed a thing. Not that it would really matter anyway, because just as the fight between Pennington and Luigi seemed to start winding out, a whole new outburst broke out concerning a character nobody even noticed was in the room.

"SHOO! SHOO!!!" Chef Shimi shouted from across the restaurant, redirecting everyone's attention. The chef could be seen at the entrance to the restaurant, ladle in hand as he tried to push a disgruntled Yoshi out of the dining car.

"Hey! Hey!! What am I, a dog!? You can't just tell me to shoo!" Yoshi yelled back, resisting the Cheep-Cheep's pushing as best he could. And he seemed to succeed, for he'd actually managed to shove the chef back, putting a little distance between them. "I'm just trying to-"

Shimi gave Yoshi a quick bonk to the snout with his ladle. Yoshi recoiled, stepping back as he simply stared at the chef for a moment incredulously. He suddenly grabbed his snout in pain.

"Dude! OW!! What's your problem!?"

"You say you are dot a dog, but you will not heave when asked. So, like I would a dog, I bonked you on the nose to make you leave!" Shimi retorted, making Yoshi shake his head in disbelief.

"_What_!?" Yoshi shouted back. "Do you know how illogical that is!? I mean, I said I'm _not_ a dog, so, if you treat me like I _am_ a dog, that's not gonna-"

Shimi bonked him on the snout again.

"Stop hitting me!" Yoshi growled as he clasped his nose again. The chef then used his ladle to point at the doorway leading back to Car 3.

"Then get out of my restaurant! You are not allowed in here until your fill is paid!"

"I'm just trying to get through, alright!" Yoshi rebutted. "Since you're refusing to cook anything for me, I have to eat somehow, and all the food I brought with me is in the storage room!"

"Tough luck," Chef Shimi said flatly. "That is not my problem."

"Grr, fine, have it your way!" Yoshi blurted out in sheer rage as he threw his arms into the air madly before forcefully pointing a finger at Shimi and speaking with a deep and sinister voice. "But I swear, if I die on this train due to starvation, I will _haunt you_ for the _rest of your life_!"

With that, Yoshi threw his hands up into the air once again, signifying that he was through with the conversation. He stormed out of the restaurant in a huff, and Shimi made his way back to his kitchen as if nothing had ever happened. Following the chef's lead, Pennington straightened out his hat and headed over for the kitchen himself, figuring he may as well get a bite to eat while he was there. Perhaps a bit of brain food in order to fuel his noggin so he could successfully continue with his investigation.

Meanwhile, Daisy and Luigi pondered how best to get rid of the stain that the fallen chowder had left behind on the latter's jeans. They never came to a consensus on how best to get it off, but Daisy proposed that she go and ask Peach if she had anything that might be useful. And so, Daisy exited in the direction of the casino, leaving behind Luigi to cool down his temper by directing his attention out the window.

Noticing that Toad and the waitress had tapered off to a conversation unrelated to anything going on, Mario figured it may be best to see what was up with Yoshi.

Finding the green dinosaur sulking on the other side of the restaurant door, leaning against the nearest wall as he glared at the carpeting, Mario approached him.

"What's going on Yoshi?" Mario asked, leaning against the wall alongside his friend.

"I'm freaking _starving to death_, that's 'what's going on'!" Yoshi spat, kicking at the air harshly to accentuate his point. He gave Mario a glance, and, seeing that the plumber was slightly startled by his hostility, Yoshi let out a sigh and lowered himself into a sitting position on the floor. "Sorry Mario. I just get really testy when I'm hungry."

"You and me both," Mario commented, crouching down next to Yoshi, "But what are you going to do for food? If you don't pay that bill, you can't eat at the restaurant. Heck, you can't even walk through it... Which raises the question, if your room is on the other side of the train, how come you came over here?"

"It was an accident," Yoshi muttered, rubbing his growling stomach with a sigh. "I was really upset when I talked to that stupid chef this morning and exited out the wrong door. I spent a while talking to the operator of the train to pass the time, but now I'm just so hungry...

"Ugh. If that Chef Shimi guy would just let me through his stupid restaurant, I could get the fruit that I packed for myself from the storage room," Yoshi continued angrily. "But no. 'You can't get through here until your 'fill' is paid! Until then, I'll yell at you with my skewered engrish and physically assault you with a ladle!'"

"Well, here's an idea," Mario began, bringing Yoshi's attention back to him. "I'll just go back and get your fruit for you. I'm sure the conductor will let me get it for you." Yoshi's face immediately lit up at the idea. Even the grumbling of his stomach seemed joyful about the proposition.

"That'd be the best Mario!" Yoshi said, rubbing his stomach happily in anticipation. "Mmm...get the watermelon for me okay? I could really go for that right now. Man, I can taste it already!"

"Sure thing Yoshi. Be right back," Mario responded. Giving Yoshi a quick pat on the shoulder, Mario got to his feet and reopened the door to the restaurant. On his way through the car, he noticed that Toad and the waitress were still chatting, while Luigi was still waiting for Daisy to return. The only real point of interest in the car seemed to be coming from Chef Shimi and Pennington.

"Are you in vain!?" Chef Shimi squealed, appearing to be on the verge of a heart attack. "I-I mean, 'Insane'!?"

"Excuse me Chef, but I believe that's a strictly confidential topic only to be held between me and my psychologist!" Pennington retaliated, leaning in to Chef Shimi's face with his trusty magnifying glass held at his eye once again. "Now, I _demand_ sushi!"

"Why will you not fudge-argh, _budge_ on this matter!?" Chef Shimi shouted back, agitation clearly showing through his voice. "Do you not realize how unconscionable it is to ask a _fish_ chef to serve _fish_!?"

"First of all, I'm admittedly impressed that you could pronounce 'unconscionable'-"

And, before he could hear anymore of the fist-fight-in-the-making, Mario was out of the car and headed through the casino. He sort of wished he'd have stuck around to hear more, but he had a hungry Yoshi waiting on him after all. Though, he did have to agree with Pennington; for Chef Shimi to pronounce "unconscionable" on the first try was impressive.

"Well, hello again Mr. Detective!" the conductor greeted cheerily as Mario made his way down the hallway of Car 8. Once again, just seeing the conductor felt like a breath of fresh air, considering all the tension cropping up between the rest of the passengers and staff aboard the train. "Are you here to ask about the murder again?"

"Not this time," Mario answered. "I need you to get something from the storage car for me. A watermelon."

The conductor's smile only brightened as he looked at his watched and prepared it for the journey. "One watermelon, coming right up!"

With the tiny beep of his digital wristwatch, the conductor disappeared into the storage car to commence his fetch quest.

After a while, Mario realized that, for the first time in what felt like ages, he actually had a moment of peace. Away from the dysfunctionality of his fellow passengers, and accompanied only by the steady sound of the train's wheels grinding along the track, Mario finally had to moment to just focus his thoughts and recap everything he'd discovered over the past couple of days.

Staring out the window, his eyes glazed over as he organized the information in his mind.

"_Alright, let's just think this through. Who killed Don Pianta, and why?_

"_Right now, my top suspect is the waitress. She clearly has a strong motivation for killing Don Pianta. She absolutely detested him, labeling him as a sexist. Whether that's true or not, she seems to stand firmly by that conviction. Not only that, but she was also given the drink that killed him, and even had a clear opportunity to poison it, what with the time it would take to move between the casino and the Don's room. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who stole the ring too. It's obvious she could have used the money from pawning it off to help her out of her financial situation. But, why use Luigi's thermometer to poison the drink? And, if she stole the ring, why bother putting it in Luigi's diary? She may have tried to hide it this morning, but I could tell she harbored at least a little hostility toward him. But was that little hint of hostility really enough to drive her to frame Luigi for this whole thing?_

"_Toad also could have tampered with the drink. I mean, he was the one who made it after all. But Toad really doesn't have any purpose to kill Don Pianta. If anything, his dependency on the wage the Don gave him is his complete alibi as to why he wouldn't do it. He needs to pay for Toadette's medical bills somehow. So what good would it have done him to kill the Don?_

"_Waluigi...well, there's no doubt that he's suspicious. Don Pianta fired him after all, over something he probably didn't even do. And, if Waluigi's long-standing hatred for Luigi is any indication, it's not too hard to believe that he'd hold a pretty strong grudge. There's also the fact that he was the one found with Don Pianta's ring in the first place. I'd figure him to be the type to keep something that valuable, but, if he's the real murderer, I can see very clearly why he would say he found it in Luigi's diary. He hated the Don, so he killed him, and he hates Luigi, so planting an item like that in Luigi's most personal possession would naturally throw more suspicion to him. He'd be killing two birds with one stone if everything went perfectly as planned. It's a farfetched idea, but he probably rubbed the ring in Luigi's diary in order to have it receive the scent of the pages. And wearing it in plain daylight could have been another of his schemes devised for the specific purpose of informing me that the ring was in Luigi's diary. Waluigi's a very crafty guy after all. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did plan all of that out. But there's still the matter of his perfect alibi: the fact that he was reported to never have left the restaurant on the night of the murder. But why stay in the restaurant the entire night? Was he trying to establish an alibi? And, if he really did stay in the restaurant, how in the world could he have even committed the crime in the first place?_

"_Then there's Bow. Her sisters as motivation was made clear right off the bat, and it's possible for her to fade in and out of visibility at will, giving her the means to commit the crime pretty easily. Though, she does have as perfect of an alibi of Waluigi. She was right there in the casino all night. Or, well, at least I think she was. Now that I think on it, wasn't there a point where nobody – not even Toad, who was tending her constantly – was paying any attention to her? Well, there's Wario, but I don't think he was paying much attention to anybody. Maybe she __**could**__ have slipped out at some point.__ Also, why was she monopolizing so much of my time yesterday? She knew I was investigating a murder, so why keep me with her for as long as she did? Her hidden motives were probably even more devious than the ones she showed._

"_This one might seem a little farfetched, but I can't completely dispel Chef Shimi as a suspect either. It couldn't be more clear that Shimi and Luigi aren't exactly on friendly terms, and Shimi went so far as to admit that he hates Luigi. And the one guy he admits to hating more than Luigi is none other than __Don Pianta. Shimi is a likely suspect alongside Waluigi when you consider that whoever killed the Don is obviously framing Luigi for the crime. But the problem here is that Chef Shimi could only have tampered with the steak, which clearly was not even touched by the Don. So how could he have gotten to the drink?_

"_Then there was that mysterious incident with the baggage on the first night:"_

"Afterwards he came out with a disconcerted look on his face. He was clearly worried about something. It was quiet for some time after that, but, after a short while, I heard a rather nasty crash come from the storage room."

"_That's what the conductor told me yesterday. Was it really mere coincidence that a spill in the storage room would distract the conductor immediately after Luigi left the Don's room, giving the killer their opportunity to make their move? Was it possible that, somehow, the conductor could actually be in on the murder? After all, he was the one physically closest to Don Pianta the entire first day of the trip. And nobody but himself knew exactly what he was doing that day..."_

"Are you sure you packed a watermelon?" the conductor asked confusedly, nearly making Mario jump as he was dragged out of his stream of consciousness.

"Oh, um, no, it's not _my_ watermelon," Mario explained. "It belongs to Yoshi. I probably should have mentioned that."

"Ah. Well, I'm sorry Mario, but I can't do that," the conductor informed apologetically as he shut off the timer on his watch. "I can only retrieve items from someone's own luggage. Otherwise, people could very well be making off with others' belongings."

"Oh. That makes sense I guess," Mario said, rubbing the back of his head as he felt a little foolish for not realizing that it'd obviously be against the rules to request others' luggage. He couldn't just give up that easily though. He had to get it for Yoshi. "Can't you make an exception this time though? It's just a watermelon after all. Besides, I'm Super Mario! How can you not trust this face?" He flashed a smile, only to receive a solemn shake of the head in return.

"I'm sorry, but no exceptions can be made, even for someone like you," the conductor explained. "Yoshi will have to request his watermelon himself."

"Well, he doesn't really have the ability to come get the watermelon himself," Mario began, suppressing an exasperated sigh. He'd hoped he could count on the conductor to be unobtrusive, but even he was starting to get in the way of Mario's objectives. "He's banned from the restaurant and is stuck on the other side. And since he can't order food from there, he really needs this watermelon."

The conductor bowed his head slightly, appearing to think about the situation. It wouldn't be right to just let Yoshi starve, even if he did apparently break the rules in some way. After a moment, he figured out how he could help and returned his attention to Mario.

"Well, if you get Yoshi's permission, then I can permit it," he stated. "Obtain his signature, along with a written statement, and bring it back with you. Then I can get the watermelon for you." He paused for a moment before coming to a realization. He began to dig around his pockets. "If you don't have access to a pen or paper, I have some here that you can use. Just be sure to return my pen when you return." He handed Mario a folded piece of paper and the aforementioned pen, which Mario received thankfully.

Mario feigned a smile of acceptance, but inwardly groaned at the remedial task. He figured that, before long, he'd be required to fill out paperwork in triplicate using a dried out pen just to get a pair of socks from his own luggage. Though, he really couldn't complain. The rule was reasonable after all. But that didn't make it any less irritating that he would have to traverse across most of the train at least three more times to get Yoshi's permission, get the watermelon, and finally bring the watermelon back to his starving friend.

And so, he set off, walking back down the halls of Cars 6 through 8, through the casino, and back into the restaurant. By now, Daisy was back at the table with Luigi. It was evident that Peach didn't have anything that could further help the stain situation. Aside from that, the only thing that had changed about the scene were the words spouting from the feuding detective and chef.

"Of course I want fish! I'm a penguin! What do you expect me to eat!?" Pennington shouted, waving his arms about wildly in front of Shimi.

"My ladle if you do not flack away from me this instant!" Chef Shimi threatened, waving his kitchen utensil around violently.

"If that ladle is made of _fish_, I would first gawk at the notion of such an odd invention, then I would gladly eat it! However, seeing as it's obviously made of metal, I'll have to pass!" Pennington rebutted, shortly before turning toward the many cabinets lining the kitchen walls. "Besides, my improbably sensitive nostrils are never wrong, and they tell me that there are fish in them thar cabinets!"

"Well, your dose is wrong in this case!" Chef Shimi retorted, opening all of the cupboards furiously to prove his statement.

Mario didn't have time to wait for the outcome of their little feud however. He found himself back in the hallway of Car 3 once again, and Yoshi was still sitting in the same position as earlier. Yoshi immediately brightened upon witnessing Mario approach him, but his joyous expression soon turn into that of confusion upon noticing a certain lack of watermelon.

"The conductor doesn't let passengers request items from others' luggage," Mario explained without needing to be asked. "Not without written consent anyway."

"Oh come on! You can't be serious!" Yoshi exclaimed, jumping to his feet immediately, but suddenly falling back against the wall as he held his head. He'd stood up way too quickly and found himself becoming dizzy. Once he regained his composure though, he immediately eyed Mario down, glaring at him as if it were all his fault.

"Settle down Yoshi, you just need to write a consent letter and sign it," Mario explained somewhat worriedly. The look in Yoshi's eyes suggested that he was hungry enough to contemplate eating the other passengers aboard the train. Something he could very easily do if he wanted to.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, except I don't have a pen. And I kinda don't know how to write," Yoshi said, scowling.

"Don't worry, the conductor gave me a pen to use, and some paper," Mario informed, taking the articles out of their appropriate pockets. "I can write down the letter for you, and you can use your paw print as a signature.

"Sure," Yoshi said indifferently, only thinking of his beloved watermelon. "But I decide what it says."

"Of course," Mario agreed, at the ready to write down Yoshi's message.

"Dear Conductor, you are ugly. I hate you." Yoshi narrated. "You are the worst ever and I hope you burn to death in a fire. Slowly."

Mario would have been taken aback from Yoshi's threats if he didn't already know how extremely moody Yoshis get when they're hungry. Instead, he only pretended to write Yoshi's aggressive statements while actually writing a much more acceptable letter that the conductor wouldn't look at and call the police over. He also wrote more sloppily and with wider loops in case the conductor could somehow recognize his handwriting.

"The next time I board this train to return home, I will be stuffing my bag full of mousetraps, with a single grape resting at the bottom. And I will be requesting the retrieval of said grape. But, for now, I give Mario permission to retrieve my watermelon. I Might Kill You in Your Sleep, Yoshi. How was that?"

"Good," Mario lied, "Now you just sign the note and I can get your watermelon."

He handed Yoshi the paper and pen, hoping that Yoshi wouldn't take the time to read over everything he wrote. Thankfully, Yoshi was only concerned about getting his food, so he traced the outline of his paw at the bottom of the paper without even glancing at the words above it.

"Here," Yoshi spoke up as he gave the pen and paper back to Mario shortly before holding his grumbling stomach. "Hurry. I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from eating the next thing I see."

Understanding the urgency of the situation, Mario nodded and headed off at a much faster pace than earlier, nearly running through the train. Upon entering the restaurant, he heard Pennington exuberantly shout,

"**MYSTERY!!!**"

before rushing into the casino. It would have been nice to hear just what the heck was going on there, but Mario had to make sure Yoshi didn't have the chance to devour any unsuspecting passengers.

"Ah, welcome back," the conductor greeted upon Mario's return. "Do you have the note?"

Without a word, Mario weakly handed over the piece of paper, along with the pen, panting as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. The conductor took a moment to read the note over and check it for forgery. He found nothing particularly suspicious about the note though, and soon headed back into the storage room to retrieve the fruit. In 18 seconds, he reemerged with the large green prize in hand.

"Thank you," Mario said briefly, taking the watermelon gratefully. The conductor gave him a smile and a nod before Mario turned back and began his rush to get the melon to Yoshi. The fruit proved to be a fair bit heavier than anticipated though, forcing Mario to slow to a sluggish power walk by the time he reached Car 6. However, by the time he'd gotten back to the restaurant, he would suddenly find his load lightened.

"Thief!" someone shouted as soon as he entered the dining car. Mario came to a halt immediately to look around, but didn't see anybody committing any kind of theft. Seconds later though, he suddenly found that the watermelon in his very hands had been robbed.

"Hey!" Mario shouted, turning towards the thief. Chef Shimi was seen bouncing the watermelon on his head, his destination being the kitchen. To Mario's dismay, the Cheep-Cheep immediately shoved the fruit into a low cabinet, closing the door and utilizing a padlock to ensure that it would not be removed anytime soon.

"What's going on here!" Mario shouted, his cheeks red with anger. "You can't just go around taking peoples' watermelons!"

"I could say the shame thing to you!" Shimi replied, remaining in front of the recently locked cabinet defensively. Mario was taken aback.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. Pennington stepped forth now, eyeing Mario down through his magnifying glass.

"Allow me to explain, 'Mario'," Pennington began. "The chef has been robbed of his essential cooking materials sometime during the night. Specifically, a box of ingredients from his bottom most shelf."

"What was in the box?" Mario asked, confused about why exactly someone would steal cooking ingredients.

"The box in question contained standard kitchen utensils for eating, vegetable oil, corn starch, corn syrup, maple syrup, cake mix, pancake batter, waffle batter, muffin mix, blueberries, chocolate chips, food coloring, and 3 cartons of eggs."

"And a watermelon!" Chef Shimi added at the last minute, causing Mario to stare at him incredulously.

"Wait... So, in this box, you had a lot of ingredients you'd normally use for breakfast foods...and a random watermelon?" Mario asked, raising an eyebrow as he folded his arms.

"I had nowhere else to put it, and there was room in the fox-erm, box so I figured 'why not'?" Chef Shimi explained.

"Even so, who would steal a box of breakfast ingredients when the only place to cook them in is this kitchen?" Mario inquired. "Are you sure you didn't just misplace the box?"

"We are quite sure that the box has not been misplaced," Pennington answered for Shimi. "I personally searched and re-searched every nook and cranny of this tiny little kitchen, and the box is, indeed, nowhere to be found." He then paused and tucked his magnifying glass away as he placed his flippers on his hips. "This train is just absolutely crawling with mysteries!"

"You could say that again," Mario said, "But-"

"This train is just absolutely crawling with mysteries!" Pennington reiterated, earning an incredulous look from Mario, as well as the fellow passengers listening in on the conversation.

"...Anyway," Mario began again after a moment. "I know for a fact that that particular watermelon you took from me is Yoshi's. _Not_ yours."

"Yoshi!? Hmph!" The Chef exclaimed. "Even if it _is_ his, I am not giving it back. He can consider it to be marshal...**partial **compensation for his unpaid bill."

"Also, how do we know that this Yoshi fellow wasn't the one who made the theft in the first place?" Pennington interjected. "Watermelons are quite popular among Yoshis, are they not? Particularly the ones of green skin tone, like our particular Yoshi in question. Yes, Yoshi while roaming the restaurant in search of a late night snack, had the sweet scent of watermelon waft into his obese, yet accurate nose. His grumbling stomach overtook his moral compass, and so he made off with the box, with the watermelon inside. Yes, it's all quite rudimentary when one thinks through the probabilities. It seems we can close this particular case shut already!"

"Well, I guess all of that would be probable if there wasn't one thing obviously wrong with your idea," Mario responded casually. He felt as if everyone else knew what the problem was with the statement, but, of course, Pennington was oblivious.

"And what could that be?" Pennington asked, completely sure of his rock solid conjecture.

"Watermelons don't give off scents," Mario explained simply, ruining Pennington's entire argument almost immediately. "At least, not when the skin is still intact. How could Yoshi have possibly known the watermelon was in the box?"

"...Well, the box _was_ stolen, we know that much," Pennington affirmed, silently accepting the fact that his logic was, indeed, flawed. "Now, it's simply a matter of discovering who took it, and why they took it..."

As Pennington began constructing more farfetched stories surrounding the mystery, Mario decided he'd have to look into the situation as well, for it was certainly odd enough to warrant a more thorough investigation. However, for the moment, he had a starving Yoshi to tend to, and it wasn't looking like he'd be getting the watermelon back from Chef Shimi... Mario could only pray that Yoshi wouldn't go on a mad eating spree upon finding out the watermelon had been nabbed.

As he went to leave, Mario noticed that Toad and the waitress had left their table at some point, yet the waitress wasn't back on her working shift. Hm. Maybe they'd gone off to Toad's cabin.

"Mar-hey, where's my watermelon?" Yoshi asked immediately upon seeing Mario return to the scene. Scratching the back of his head nervously, Mario answered quite slowly.

"Um...well...Chef Shimi took it from me before I could get it over to you."

Yoshi was bemused.

"...What?" he asked with an eerily quiet voice.

"It's another mystery that just popped up out of nowhere," Mario began to explain. "A box of ingredients was stolen from Chef Shimi, and in that box was a watermelon. And, since I told them that the watermelon I went to get was yours, they think you may have committed the crime."

"OH MY GOSH, WHY DOES THIS TRAIN HATE ME!!??" Yoshi exploded, nearly shocking Mario's heart right out of his chest. "I swear, that Chef Shimi guy is gonna GET IT!! He is sooooo gonna regret messing with me! Mark my words Mario, he will _pay!!_"

Without another word, Yoshi began to storm off down the hall in a blind rage. Worried about the safety of the other passengers, Mario quickly called out to him and asked where exactly he was going.

"Back to the engine room! The operator might have something left over from lunch I can eat!"

Whew. Well, at least he was out searching for actual food to consume. And the operator seemed like a nice enough guy; if he had any leftovers, he'd surely let Yoshi have them.

Now that he was free of running errands for Yoshi, Mario figured it was probably an opportune time to look into finding the box of stolen ingredients.

Figuring Chef Shimi, Pennington, and everyone else in the restaurant at present knew no more about the case than he did, Mario began to brainstorm over who or where he could go to in order to figure something out.

Hm...

Well, the only person he could think of for this case was the waitress. It was a pretty weak lead, but, aside from Shimi, she was the only person on the train who was typically near the kitchen almost constantly. It was unlikely, but maybe she might know something about what was going on.

If Mario remembered correctly, the waitress and Toad weren't in the restaurant just a moment ago, and he'd figured that they'd probably gone off to Toad's room to talk in private.

And so, he set off for Car 1, headed directly for Toad's room. He knocked a few times, calling out Toad's name to let him know that it was Mario at the door. When the plumber received no answer for quite some time though, he slowly slid the door open and peeked inside. The place was empty. However, curious, Mario found himself entering the room anyway, closing the door behind him as he stepped in.

Immediately after entering, all Mario could think was how abnormally dark it was in there. The drapes on the window had been closed, allowing very little light to enter the room. However, he was still able to see clearly enough to notice that the plastic Birds of Paradise were still resting on the top of his dresser. Mario stepped over and grabbed the flowers, admiring their beauty for a few moments. It was hard to believe that a flower like that even existed; he'd always believed they'd all looked like daisies or roses or the like. These were just so different though. Really sharp and dramatic like that. No wonder Toadette loved them so much, they were so unique.

"_...You're gonna have to ask him about it if you want to know..."_

As Mario set the flowers back on the dresser, he suddenly remembered the issue with Toad's letter. Luigi wouldn't tell him a thing about it, but now...what if Toad had it right there in that very room? This would very well be the only opportunity Mario had to find the letter and discover why it was so bad that Toad had to ask Luigi not to tell anyone about its contents.

Hoping he wouldn't get caught snooping around the room, Mario began to search out places where an important letter might be hidden.

Sock drawer? After opening it up and carefully pushing half the socks to one side, the other half to the other, he didn't find a thing. He then replaced the socks and ensured they were evenly level.

Under the cushions of the couch? Mario overturned the large cushions and took a look. Nothing was there. Did the couch have a fold-out bed? No, it did not. Well, that was that.

How about under the mattress? Careful not to disturb the sheets too much, Mario lifted the mattress of the bed and...bingo! An envelope, sitting right there, the words "DO NOT READ" scrawled on the front in large letters. The letter itself was poking out of a slit on the top of the envelope and Mario knelt down, still holding the mattress with one hand. With the other, he slid the letter out and unfolded it. It was typed up on a computer, the formatting suggesting it was a professional, business-like letter. He began to read eagerly, anxious of what exactly he would find in its contents.

"_Dear Toad,_

_We regret to inform you that-"_

That was all Mario could read before he heard voices coming up the hallway. Suddenly aware, Mario stood up and carefully lowered the mattress over the envelope, letter still in hand. A moment later, the door to the room gave out a very unnerving click, sending chills down Mario's spine immediately. He had to find someplace to hide, immediately.

Noticing that the closet door was slightly open, he made a rush across the room and slid through it soundlessly, opting not to close the door completely in hopes of preserving the scene, as not to risk tipping Toad off that anybody had been in the room.

"Yeah, Yoshi just gets like that when he's hungry," Toad's voice informed lightheartedly as he entered the room, followed by the waitress, who closed the door behind herself. "There's nothing to worry about though. He never means anything he says when he's like that."

"I hope he doesn't," the waitress responded, her voice a little less enthusiastic than Toad's. "Like, the way he was glaring at me was totally scary... I thought he was gonna like, chow down on me for a second."

"Well, even if he tried, I wouldn't let him," Toad promised as he took a seat the couch. The waitress followed suit, sitting next to him. Very closely at that; she even leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder immediately. A moment of awkward silence came over the two of them for a while. The air felt stiff, almost as if both of them were afraid to talk, despite being completely alone.

Well, if you didn't count the plumber that was hiding away in the shadows of the closet.

"It's like, really dark in here," the waitress commented emptily. She didn't really sound like she cared at all about the dimness of the room, but it seemed that she felt she needed to make some sort of observation, if only for the purpose of breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Toad replied, just as disinterested. "I don't know, I just like it this way, in my cabin at least. It's relaxing."

"That's true... So, the operator said we'll be arriving at eight tomorrow morning," the waitress continued, changing subjects as she gingerly hugged Toad's arm with both of her own. "Are you like, gonna try and go to Toad Town to see Toadette?"

"...I don't know," Toad sighed after a few moments, shortly before giving a chuckle in spite of himself. "You'd think that seeing her would be the first thing on my mind, but...I guess I'm just kind of scared."

"Yeah. Seeing her like that would be really hard," the waitress responded sadly. Mario had a feeling that she wasn't sad over Toadette's condition though, but more over the fact that it was clear that Toad's heart was still in the hands of his beau. She would never admit, despite her very obvious signs, that she wished for Toad to be all her own. But she would stay by his side regardless to try and help him in any way that she could. And Mario couldn't seem to decide whether she was just a hopeless romantic or someone who, underneath a rather unassuming exterior, was actually a fairly strong, devoted individual who would try her hardest to do anything she could for those close to her.

He wouldn't have very much time to secretly psychoanalyze her however, for the door to the room suddenly opened up once again, catching both Toadstools, as well as Mario, off guard. Through the portal stepped the bow-tied Bumpty, who held his magnifying glass to his eye solemnly as he commanded the pair's attention.

"You two may want to report to Car 3," Pennington informed with a dead serious tone, causing the waitress's eyes to widen as Toad stood from his chair, causing the waitress to release his arm. "There's an emergency, and passengers' testimonies would be appreciated."

"What's going on?" Toad asked as the waitress dismounted from the couch and immediately wrapped her arm back around Toad's. Pennington simply took a moment to look at the pair through his magnifying glass before giving the news that would make everyone's hearts jump immediately.

"It appears there has been another murder."

* * *

_liek o mie gawd, KLIPH HAINGOR_

**...**

_..._

**... You're still on Tylenol aren't you?**

_... OMFG, there are colors EVERYWHERE!!!_

**Oh well, I'm sure he'll come back eventually. In the mean time, leave a review telling us who you think was the second murder victim/murderer.**

_My skin is tingling all over just thinking about it!_


	10. Day Three: Saturday Night

_It's almost time isn't it._

**Yep, they should be getting here any time now.**

_5 more seconds. 4. 3. 2. 1. *Watches as time machine materializes out of thin air*_

_*Emerges from time machine* Behold Cascore, the future!_

___There you are!_

___Oh hey, it's my future self. What's up dog!_

___Nothing much, except that the Pennington Files haven't been updated in almost 8 months!_

_Futureversionofmyselfsaywhat!_

**I'll explain. When you, our past selves, went on your time travelling joy ride, you forgot that the flash drive containing the next chapter of Murder on the Excess Express was in your pockets. So for the past eight months it's been with you guys as you were flying through the fabric of space and time.**

**Yeah, turns out, car sickness translates to time travel as well. But the story seriously hasn't been updated for eight months?**

**Nope.**

_That's messed. Oh, you know what, I think I have the flash drive right here actually._

_Well give it here so we can update this bad boy!_

_Alright, so while he's doing that, what new exciting things can we expect from the year 2010?_

**They're making a 3DS. It lets you play 3D games on a handheld without the use of glasses.**

**Holy cow, you're pulling my leg, right?**

**Nope. Also, they're making a 4th Paper Mario game for it.**

_MY HEART! All of this future technology is going to give me shock._

**Quickly, we must return to our time where the natural order of the universe is respected and adhered to! *Drags Wimpzilla into time machine***

_*Watches time machine pop out of existence* ...I just realized that if we gave this flash drive back to them they could have updated the story themselves 8 months ago..._

**I hate time travel.**

**

* * *

**

**Day Three - Saturday Evening**

Not unlike the pair of Toads, Mario found himself stunned by the news. Unconsciously leaning towards the door's opening to get a better look at the room, his throat quickly became drier than the most arid of deserts as his heart rate began to increase. Toad seemed to have a similar reaction, for his face paled slightly as his eyes widened in shocked. The waitress shot him a glance, took note of his stunned expression, and hugged his arm more tightly as she returned her attention to Pennington.

"Who's the victim?" she asked, concerned and quiet. Fidgeting slightly, Pennington ruffled his hat a bit and placed a balled flipper in front of his beak as he cleared his throat.

"We'll discuss the details once I have everyone gathered," he explained in an uncharacteristically serious tone. Something about this new occurrence seemed to bring out his full-on detective mode. Shortly, he stepped off to the side of the door. "If the two of you will head to Car Three."

The pair followed suit after exchanging a worried look, proceeding slowly out of the room in clear reluctance of bearing witness to this new crime scene. Pennington was left behind to slide the door closed behind them and went for the knob as he stepped out. Before he left though, he suddenly paused and looked back into the room. By this time, Mario was leaning partially out of the closet, but quickly threw himself back out of sight once he realized that Pennington was moments away from noticing him. Several seconds passed in silence before the door finally closed and Mario was free to exit the closet.

He remained in the room for a while, taking a few deep breaths to lower his accelerated heart rate as he simultaneously wondered how long he should wait before exiting the room. If Pennington was coming from Car Three with the news, it was likely he was working his way down the train, meaning he was headed for Bow's room as his final stop. If Mario left immediately, he'd run the risk of being caught in the suspicious act of leaving Toad's room only moments after Pennington himself was there. So he decided it may well be best to stick around for at least a little while before going to leave.

He allowed a minute to pass in silence before he edged over to the door and nudged it back open slightly. Cautiously, he poked his head out into the hallway and looked off toward Bow's cabin, only to rear back into the room and close the door once more as he witnessed Pennington, Bow, and what looked like Peach and Toadsworth all exit the Boo's cabin.

"Right this way, ladies," Pennington insisted. The group passed in silence as Mario hid directly on the other side of Toad's door. Once the sound of the footsteps made its way past the door, Mario poked his head out the door once again to confirm what he believed he saw just a moment ago. Sure enough, Pennington and Toadsworth had taken the rear, Bow and Peach making their way in front of them.

Mario figured the only possible reason Peach could have been in Bow's room was for the purpose of giving the Boo a harsh talking-to about intruding on others' relationships, while Toadsworth was only there to accompany the princess, as he always did. If that were the case though, why were they going through the hallway side by side like that? They must have either been on friendly terms, or the shock of the news made them forget about their bad blood for a moment. Mario was willing to bet the latter was the case.

Forgetting about the princess and the Boo, Mario quickly hopped out of the room, closed the door behind him, and hastily made his way over to Car Two. He made sure to keep a distance between himself and the group just ahead of him to avoid being seen, but his mind was preoccupied with far more than being caught.

How inconvenient that a _second_ murder take place while Mario was still in the process of figuring out the first one! Why did something like that have to happen when he had less than a day left to prove his brother's innocence? Sure, it was a terrible thing that someone else had been killed, but this new case would surely impede his progress on solving the mystery behind Don Pianta's death. And that was the last thing Mario needed at the moment.

The scene felt all too familiar as Mario stepped up to Waluigi's room, for a crowd of horrified, disgusted patrons had been gathered in front of its open door. Several faces were pure white as Mario nudged his way through the crowd, others seeming to threaten to pass out on the spot from the sight. And once Mario laid his eyes on the scene, he immediately understood why the reactions were as they were, for his own eyes had widened as his throat grew dry once more.

Popple was found lying next to his bed on the floor, a pool of his own blood having surrounded him from head to toe. All across his torso, several cuts had been etched into his skin, and the cloth around the incisions was drenched in whatever blood was not presiding on the floor. A large steak knife rested at his side, roughly two feet away, its blade almost fully covered in its victim's blood. Mario had to admit, he didn't have fond memories of the guy, and he didn't exactly have the best reputation, but seeing him decimated in such a fashion...who in the world – or, rather, who on that train, would ever do such a thing to him?

"Ah, thank you for joining us 'Mario'," Pennington greeted as he noticed the plumber enter the room. He soon gave a little summoning wave, motioning for Mario to come to his side. "I believe your assistance may be needed at present. As my capable apprentice, I believe you would surely be best to aid me in solving this undoubtedly heinous case."

Ignoring the comment about being Pennington's apprentice, Mario approached the body slowly. He was careful not to step in the massive red puddle as he came as close as he could to Popple's side, kneeling down to inspect him more closely. Pennington watched him intently before stepping over to his side, flippers clasped behind his back.

"Do you notice anything particularly strange about this scene, 'Mario'?" Pennington asked, the inflection in his voice hinting that he knew something that Mario, and likely everyone else, didn't. Mario couldn't help but furrow his brow and scrunch his nose slightly as he gave his answer though. He didn't notice how horrible the room smelled until that instant.

"Other than the fact that there's blood everywhere? And that is smells terrible?" Mario responded, cupping his nose with his right hand in an attempt to block the foul odor. The stench of the large puddle was not like that of blood; it proved to be much more offensive to the senses, making Mario wonder wonder if Beanish people had different blood than Toads and Humans. Pennington's improbably sensitive nostrils seemed unfazed however, for he continued to hold his flippers behind his back and appear as if the smell did not affect him whatsoever.

"I was speaking more along the lines of the murder weapon itself," Pennington corrected, drawing Mario's, and most of the crowd's, attention over to the steak knife. "Give it a closer look. Do you not recognize the insignia on the blade's handle?"

It was a bit over the top to refer to a steak knife as a blade, wasn't it? Regardless, Mario did as he was instructed and focused his attention on the knife's handle. On it was a small, carved picture of the engine of the Excess Express, and inside that image was a small oval in which the letters "EE" were placed...

"Isn't this a steak knife from the kitchen?" Mario asked after a few seconds, prompting a nod from Pennington.

"Precisely," Pennington confirmed. "The murderer had to have had access to this steak knife in order to kill our Beanish victim. How do you believe they were able to procure such an item, 'Mario'?"

"Well, anyone could have just sneaked it out while they exited the restaurant," Mario responded, not exactly sure of what Pennington was getting at. It was absurd to think anyone had to go through special means to obtain a simple steak knife.

"I'll get to that point later then," Pennington said, a hint of disappointment in his voice, as if a student had failed his test. "But the first important thing I wish to address is establishing a suspect. Who was the person last seen entering or exiting this cabin?"

Several seconds passed by without anyone responding. Everyone in the crowd slowly began to look at each other awkwardly, expecting someone to speak up. When it was clear no one had an answer, Pennington rubbed the underside off his beak.

"I see. You sir, in the emo garb," Pennington spoke up, pointing towards Waluigi. Waluigi scoffed at the ridiculous comment about his choice of fashion, but came over to Pennington's side anyway. "Do you not bunk with this Beanish looking fellow?" Pennington asked rhetorically, for he continued before Waluigi could begin to give an answer. "Surely you had a clear opportunity to murder him."

Waluigi folded his arms and looked down at Popple's body, almost appearing as if he didn't care that his own acquaintance was laying there dead right before his eyes. "Yeah, we used to share a room, but I haven't seen him since we left Riverside Station."

"Really now?" Pennington began accusingly. "Where could you have possibly stayed other than your own room?"

"I've been staying with Wario since we pulled out of Riverside," Waluigi explained simply. "We haven't had the chance to catch up in a while, so I've been spending my time with him."

Pennington looked towards Wario, who nodded in affirmation. "Wario, is it?" Pennington started, turning fully to the obese man as he spoke. "Has this shifty-looking fellow ever left your side since Riverside Station?"

"Well, duh!" Wario responded with a snort, "I ain't the guy's babysitter or nothin'. We hang out and stuff, but I ain't goin' to the bathroom with the guy if that's what you're askin'."

Waluigi rolled his eyes as if to thank the heavens for that small fact.

"That was a rather vulgar way of putting it, but thank you I suppose," Pennington said. "Perhaps I should have asked a more narrow question. Wario, has this man been with you for the past, say, half hour?"

"Yeah," Wario answered briefly.

"And neither you nor he ever entered this cabin in that span of time?" Pennington continued.

"No."

"Well, that most certainly is troubling indeed," Pennington admitted, though he still appeared to be in control of the situation. He was in full-on detective mode after all, and he couldn't afford to let that slip away. "So no one here has entered this cabin within the last thirty minutes, correct?" Everyone in the crowd nodded. "Then that can only mean one thing-"

"Hey guys, what's going on in here?" A slightly timid voice suddenly asked from the back of the crowd. As a single unit, everyone turned to see who had spoken up only to find none other than Pennington's perpetual number one suspect standing at the door: Luigi.

"SO!" Pennington shouted exuberantly, immediately pointing an accusatory flipper in Luigi's direction, managing to part the crowd like the Red Sea so Luigi was standing directly in the spotlight. "The criminal returns to the scene of the crime!"

"...What!" Luigi shouted after an awkward silence as he attempted to figure out what was going on. The crowd erupted into a flurry of whispers, thoroughly worrying Luigi. "W-Wait, I didn't commit any crime! What's everyone talking about here!"

"Don't play dumb 'Luigi', as easy as it must be for you," Pennington retorted, inwardly smirking at his wicked burn. "I made sure to gather everyone in the train, EXCEPT _you_. By the mere fact that you showed up at all means you knew there was a murder here."

"But I didn't-" Luigi stammered. He suddenly came to a freeze once he noticed Popple's body on the ground behind Pennington.

"And how could you possibly have known there was a murder here at all," Pennington continued, ignoring Luigi completely as he continued to make his point, "unless you committed the murder yourself!"

"I have serious doubts about that line of logic, Pennington," Mario spoke up, causing the Bumpty to spin around and look at him in shock. He seemed to have honestly forgotten Mario was even there.

"How could you possibly have doubts about it. Just look at his face!" Pennington shouted, pointing to Luigi, whose had gone quite pale. "Only a man who knows he's been caught would have a face as pale as that."

"Or his face could just be pale because-"

_***THUD***_

Everyone turned their attention back to Luigi in surprise, for he had collapsed and landed flat on his back. He was unconscious.

"He doesn't do well with the sight of blood at all," Mario finished. Pennington frowned, for he hadn't considered that Luigi could have simply been more on the squeamish side. "He wouldn't have been able make it past the first cut if he actually did do this."

"Hm... This case won't be as easy to crack as the previous one then," Pennington admitted. "However it's just as well. This only vindicates my suspicions of 'Luigi' murdering Don Pianta."

"How?" Mario asked.

"As I'm sure many of you assumed, whoever did this very likely murdered Don Pianta as well," Pennington began to explain. "However, the way this murder was carried out suggests another person to be at work here. This murderer is much more direct and brutal, possibly taking a sick pleasure in stealing this man's life. A single stab to the heart would have done the job just fine, but notice that there are several horizontal cuts across his torso instead of thin, deep stabs. 'Popple' here most likely died to loss of blood instead of internal injuries, considering the massive puddle of blood at our feet. This person took their precious time in killing him, most likely enjoying every sick and twisted second of it, the heathen."

Many of the faces surrounding the entrance to the cabin had become pale green with nausea.

"However, whoever killed Don Pianta was much more indirect, and clean, about their murder. I suspect there are in fact _two_ different murderers on this train. And if 'Luigi' turns as green as the very clothes he wears at the mere sight of blood, then that means even the way Don Pianta was murdered points straight to him."

"So you mean to say that there's actually _another_ murderer on this train?" Toad asked, he himself starting to turn white with worry.

Meanwhile, Peach seemed a little less surprised by this turn of events and more shocked by just how Pennington was acting. She soon turned towards Toadsworth and whispered, "When did Pennington become so..._competent_?" Toadsworth merely shook his head in response, just as astounded as his dear princess.

"And that is precisely why I've called you all here," Pennington answered, not having heard Peach's comment and disregarding the fact that he just admitted to trying to trick Luigi into looking even more guilty before he fainted. "I'd like to individually hear from each of you about what you've been doing for the past half hour."

"But why only the last half hour?" Yoshi asked, having forgotten his hunger pangs. "No one's even seen the guy since we left Riverside Station. The murderer could have gotten to him at any time since then."

Pennington smiled as if he had a secret he had been dying to tell everyone, and Yoshi seemed to give him the perfect opportunity to show off his knowledge. "I would like to draw everyone's attention to this ghastly pool of blood," he began, stepping to the side to ensure everyone could see it, though that really wasn't a problem since it covered half the entire floor. "But what I would like to point out is that the blood...IS STILL WET!"

At first everyone had grown silent with confusion, but slowly, one by one, they realized Pennington's point. For anyone who hadn't though, Pennington spoke up with his explanation about the significance of this discovery.

"Blood, on average, takes twenty minutes to congeal," he recited.

"Con-what?" Yoshi asked, cocking his head to the right a little.

"I think he means it takes twenty minutes for blood to _dry_," Mario corrected, knowing that Pennington had used the word "congeal" inappropriately in an attempt to make himself sound more intelligent.

"Precisely!" Pennington announced, ignorant to his grammatical misstep. "Which brings us back to the steak knife. We know the murder must have taken place today by the fact that this person was killed within the past twenty minutes. Lunch has since passed, and no one would have need for a steak knife for any lunch or breakfast item on the menu. With every utensil accounted for the previous night, where could this killer have hoped to obtain his murder weapon?"

"...!" Mario pieced together the information, and once Pennington had seen that his apprentice knew what he was talking about, he continued.

"I see you've figured it out 'Mario'," Pennington spoke up happily before informing the rest of his clueless audience. "This can only mean that whoever stole that box of kitchen ingredients and utensils..."

He paused for dramatic effect...

"_Is directly involved with this murder!_"

A collective gasp shot through the crowd, followed by more shocked murmuring. Pennington soon held his flipper up, commanding silence from the crowd. They heeded his gesture and quieted down.

"Naturally, this is a very mysterious case, as most cases tend to be. But we do have a lead now, with the Chef's missing box. Everyone's cooperation would be very much appreciated, so I will be holding 'interviews' with everyone soon, beginning with you, Mr. Waluigi," Pennington said, turning towards the lanky thief standing at his side. Waluigi gave a grunt and showed off his usual frown, but didn't decline. "In the meantime, I'd like to discuss with my apprentice in private. If you'll all excuse us for a moment."

Everyone began filing out of the cabin, carefully stepping over the still unconscious Luigi, leaving the Bumpty and plumber to discuss the finer points of this new case.

"I hope you've accepted the fact that your brother murdered Don Pianta," Pennington began quite casually. "I don't need you to be distracted with several cases at once if you're going to be helping me."

"Sorry Pennington, but my brother never murdered Don Pianta, or anyone for that matter, I'm sure of it. You've already proven that he couldn't have anyway," Mario responded, aggravated by Pennington's persistence on blaming Luigi for everything.

"I hope you're not speaking of the fingerprints I lifted off the ring," Pennington stated flatly, "because there's a very simple explanation for the small prints that have appeared."

"Oh, really?" Mario asked rhetorically, not buying into Pennington's claim at all.

"Elementary, my dear apprentice," Pennington began. Mario could tell by the look on his face that he had been waiting for the opportunity to use that line. "Don Pianta himself simply left those prints on the ring. Surely his thumb on his right hand left those prints whenever he took the ring off."

"That's a bit absurd don't you think?" Mario asked, folding his arms. "You're clearly grabbing at straws now."

"Am I? Tell me, how could Don Pianta's left hand leave fingerprints on a ring he's wearing? His fingers never came into contact with the ring itself, and if they do they are wiped away when he slides his ring on and off. Only his other hand, in the process of taking off the ring, could leave behind his large, distinct prints. And surely his thumb comes in contact while doing so."

"So you've matched the smaller prints to his right thumb I assume?" Mario asked. Pennington gave a weak smile.

"Well, you see, my nose is very sensitive, which gives me the impeccable ability to sniff out any hint of mystery," Pennington tried to explain. "However, I'm afraid that the stench of the rotting steak in Don Pianta's room has become too much for my nostrils to bear. I can't even enter the last car of the train because of that horrible stench. With luck I won't have to venture back there for this case. Regardless, my sheet of prints seems to have gone missing, so even if I wanted to test for comparisons, I couldn't exactly do so at the moment... Would you happen to have seen my sheet at all?"

"No," Mario lied bluntly before quickly getting back to the subject. "Well I'm sorry Pennington, I can't help you with this case. Proving my brother's innocence is of far greater importance than finding the scoundrel who stabbed Popple." Oh lord, now Mario was starting to _talk_ like him!

"I see, though I can't say I truly understand why you're so persistent on proving that murderous brother of yours innocent. I commend you nonetheless on your undying loyalty though," Pennington said. "Well, it looks like this penguin with the improbably large brain has yet another case to solve, and he must do so quickly, with or without the help of his apprentice. So if you'll excuse me..." With those parting words, Pennington left the cabin, nearly tripping over the unconscious Luigi still laying in the hallway.

Mario remained behind, shaking his head slightly before taking in the scene of the murder. Although he had to focus on Don Pianta's case, Mario couldn't help but feel curious about this one as well. During Pennington's analysis of the crime, Mario couldn't shake the feeling that something was out of place; namely the fact that nothing was actually out of place. Every item in the room, save for the carpet, was left unchanged and pristine. Mario knew Popple; he was a fighter, known for even causing a tussle over literally nothing. The fact that there were no signs of struggle between him and the killer was far too suspicious...

As his eyes darted about the room, they rested upon a bottle of ColdKillerX, a popular brand of cold medicine, placed on the nightstand. The top was removed, placed off to the side of the stand. A bottle that large could easily last a person a week, if they took the suggested two pills every four hours. But the bottle was only half full, and considering that Popple must have been sick upon boarding the train only two days ago, he must have been taking quite a dosage of pills, far more than he should have. But if he took too many over a course of several doses or in just one sitting could not be determined. Mario set the bottle back on the table, promising to let Pennington know about his discovery the next time they met.

Once Mario had set the bottle back on the counter, he found himself alone again. With no one wanting to revisit a dead body, right then would be the best time to sneak a peek at Toad's secret letter. Shutting the door closed and making sure to lock it, Mario pulled out the fabled letter and began reading it, holding his breath as he did so.

_Dear Toad._

_We regret to inform you that, due to our limited resources, we could no longer continue with providing life support for Toadette. Her medical finances have not been covered for three (3) months, and we simply have too many patients in need of our equipment. We are truly remorseful about the decision that has reluctantly been carried out, but there was nothing more we could do, and no compromise was available for this situation. We hope you understand, and again, we deeply apologize for your loss, but our paying customers must come first._

_With regret,_

_St. Herald Hospital_

Mario read the letter over and over again, but somehow he couldn't believe what he was reading could be real. Toadette...she was dead now? Toad couldn't keep up with the high payments so they just pulled the plug on her, just like that? What kind of sick hospital was this? Sure, there were others in need of equipment too, but she was there first, and obviously very much in need of it! Mario wasn't sure who he was more furious at, the hospital for doing such a heartless thing, or himself for not even knowing that Toadette was in danger. He could have prevented this, if only Toad had come to him for help...

Slowly refolding the letter and placing it back into his pocket, Mario simply stood there for a moment as he let the information sink in. Toadette was really, honestly gone...? He would never be able to see her again...? Suddenly, he felt hollow. Empty. As if a part of his own self had died as a result of daring himself to read that letter. And the news was only made worse by the morbid activities go on within that very train. Just how many deaths would he have to deal with before it was all over? It just felt like too much to take in all at once.

After a minute or two, Mario realized he was staring blankly out of the cabin's window. He had things to do, and standing around idly wasn't one of them. But Toadette... Mario would definitely have to find Toad as soon as possible and talk with him about that letter.

He left the cabin, feeling strangely awkward as he walked. His body almost seemed to go numb from the thought of Toadette's death. He wouldn't have even noticed he stepped on his brother had Luigi not grunted as a result.

"Oof," Luigi moaned, waking from his fainting spell as Mario accidently stepped on his stomach. The older brother quickly backed off as Luigi sat himself up, rubbing his throbbing head. "Oooh...what just happened?"

Thinking quickly, Mario stepped back toward the cabin door and closed it shut. Poor Luigi probably would have passed out again on the spot if he witnessed the ghastly sight again. Slowly, Luigi's eyes focused and he soon craned his neck back to look up at his brother, who was gazing right back at him worriedly. He then stood, stumbled a little from the daze of having recently passed out, and shook his head before supporting himself on the railing next to the hall window.

"How are you feeling?" Mario asked with genuine concern, removing himself from the door and stepping over to the Luigi before placing a firm hand on his shoulder. Luigi merely looked at him for a moment before he spoke, as if trying to remember what happened in the past few minutes.

"I don't know. I'm kinda confused," he admitted slowly before resting his forehead on his palm. Mario retracted his hand and backed off a bit. "All I remember was Pennington calling me a murderer, and then passing out..." Remembering Pennington, Luigi suddenly snapped back into reality and shifted himself into worry mode immediately. "Oh no, Pennington doesn't think I murdered Popple does he!"

Mario was glad to see Luigi was back to his regular, worrisome self so quickly, even if that wasn't much better than being confused.

"No. He's still convinced you killed Don Pianta, so he's ruled you out already," Mario explained. Luigi pouted.

"Well, that's not much better now is it?" Luigi muttered, folding his arms in a huff.

"I wouldn't worry," Mario consoled with a small smile, trying his best to lighten his brother's mood, despite his own dampened spirit. "Remember, we already proved it couldn't have been you at lunch, but Pennington's so delusional that he made up this whole explanation that the prints were left by Don Pianta himself when he took his ring off. It's not like he even bothers to take the ring off-"

Mario stopped himself short once he realized that Luigi was giving off an odd look. He wasn't looking directly back at Mario, instead focusing his attention high up on the wall behind Mario, slightly to his left. An eyebrow was slightly raised and a faint frown could be seen forming across his lips. Mario knew his brother had something to say, and stayed quiet until Luigi noticed that Mario wanted him to give up whatever information was hiding away in his mind.

"Well..." Luigi started reluctantly, urging a groan from Mario. Luigi was about to say something he didn't want to hear. "Don Pianta actually takes his ring off for several occasions. Like when he's eating, when he's meeting an employee or a client, and when he's joggercising, among other things."

"...Jogger-what?" Mario asked, already sounding exasperated after learning this knew nugget of information.

"It's um, kinda what power walking is to regular walking I guess, except you jog. If that makes any sense," Luigi responded, a little unsure of his own answer. Mario accepted it without question though, figuring it was a moot point anyway.

"So you're saying that Don Pianta definitely, without a doubt, had his ring _off_ during your meeting on Thursday?" Mario asked, making sure Luigi was absolutely one hundred percent certain. Luigi nodded in response.

"Yes."

"So, hypothetically, you could have, very easily, stolen the ring from Don Pianta?" Mario asked, becoming noticeably more weary by the word; he stared at Luigi rather intensely and slumped his shoulders slightly, unable to believe that Luigi was so willingly prosecuting himself at the moment.

Luigi didn't seem to get why Mario was staring at him so strangely for a few moments, until he slowly pieced together what was being hinted at in the last couple of questions. Once he figured it out, his eyes immediately widened and he quickly clutched on to Mario's shoulder, worry riddled in his face. "Oh man Bro, are you saying this is _ANOTHER_ piece of evidence Pennington can use against me!" Mario nodded, looking quite irritated and away from Luigi's face. Luigi soon let go of his brother and reared his head back dramatically, clasping his hands to his face as he did so. "Why me! Why does this kind of thing only happen to me! And just when I thought life was finally looking up for me, all of _this_ starts to happen and-...and...!"

Luigi dropped his hands and slumped his shoulders after the dramatic display, hiccuping as a tear or two slid down his face. Mario, unable to stand seeing his brother like that, stepped over and gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry Luigi. It'll be okay. Trust me. Thing's could always be much worse."

"How could it be worse than this-hic!" Luigi asked, having lost all composure. "Being accused of..._murdering_ your boss, losing-hic, losing the best job you've ever had because of it, and having the possibility of freedom dangled right in front of you, only for it be-hic, yanked away when things are looking up! HOW COULD IT BE ANY WORSE THAN THAT!"

"...You left out Daisy learning what you wrote in your diary," Mario timidly added with a small smile after a moment of silence, hoping to interject some humor into the situation. Luigi was less than impressed at Mario attempt to lighten the mood though.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," Luigi grumbled. "I almost wish I was the next person to die."

"Don't say that Luigi. As long as Pennington doesn't know about Don Pianta's ring habits, then we're in the clear on this one. All we have to do is keep quiet about it," Mario explained, bringing a slight light of hope to his brother's dismals face.

"Well, how unfortunate for you that I heard _absolutely everything you just said!_" a stuffy voice shouted triumphantly from behind Mario. His eyes wide and the hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention, Mario spun around quicker than his heart could beat and saw, to his pure and utter dread, the very Bumpty he had come to despise over the past few days, staring up at him with a snicker and a sneer. Meanwhile, Luigi could do little more than stare in horrified shock.

"PENNINGTON!" Mario shouted in equal parts surprise and utter disbelief. "Wh...What are you doing here?" he went on to ask after a brief pause in an attempt to collect himself and calm down.

"Well, I'd decided to return to the scene of the crime for one last examination before my meeting with the Goth fellow," Pennington responded smugly. "Believe you me my fair apprentice, I had _no_ intention of further proving your brother guilty of his murder, but I suppose what just happened was simply destiny at work. Well, if you two will excuse me, I'll be off," he finished, tipping his hat to the brothers as if to mock them before turning to enter the cabin. Mario watched in silence as Pennington began to whistle an inappropriately cheery tunes while opening the cabin door to return to the grisly scene beyond. He suddenly remembered Luigi's previous reaction to all the blood and looked over at him quickly. However, the man in green was busy continuing to stare straight ahead, a tiny, pitch black rain cloud now hovering over his head and drenching his hat and shoulders.

"And if you'll excuse me Bro-hic...I have a pillow to go cry into," he sighed. He began to leave for his room, the cloud following him as it released a tiny bolt of lightning that barely missed Luigi's cap, followed by a miniature clap of thunder. Mario felt immensely sorrowful for his brother; the poor guy just always seemed to attract all kinds of trouble. Figuring Luigi could benefit from some alone time though (or maybe just some time not being around other people so he couldn't incriminate himself even more), Mario decided he may as well head off for his intended destination: Toad's cabin.

Mario approached the door to Toad's cabin and attempted to open it immediately. However, the door wouldn't budge, even after Mario tried to slide it several times. For a moment, he thought it might have been stuck somehow. Eventually though, he realized it was simply locked. So few people ever actually locked their doors on the Excess Express that Mario forgot it was possible for a moment, even though he did it himself just minutes ago.

He stepped back for a moment, wondering if he really wanted to intrude on Toad's space. He must have had the door locked for a reason after all...

No. Mario had to talk to him about that letter. Something like what was detailed in the letter couldn't just be left alone. He had to go to Toad and figure out what was going on with him. Resolved, Mario knocked on the door a few times.

"Toad, are you there?" he called.

Several seconds passed in silence before he could hear the tumblers in the door's lock activate. The door cracked open just wide enough for Mario to enter, welcoming him to slip into the dim room before Toad quickly shut the door once more and relocked it. Mario watched his friend in silence as Toad returned to his couch.

"What's up Mario?" Toad asked, a heavy hint of nervousness in his voice as he watched the door from the side of his eye. Mario noticed this, and though he planned to bring up the letter immediately, Toad's nervous composure piqued his curiosity.

"What's wrong Toad? You seem worried."

"Well, aren't you?" Toad asked. "I mean, _two_ killers? On the _same_ train? I think I have every right to be freaking out at least a little bit right now."

He did had a point, but, for some reason, Mario couldn't shake the feeling that Toad's current demeanor was little more than an act. It didn't seem to match up with how how was behaving before. "You weren't this freaked out when the first murder happened though," Mario pointed out, though sounding more sympathetic than accusatory as not to make Toad feel even more uncomfortable if he was expressing genuine fear. "Why weren't you like this when we found Don Pianta?"

"Well, I was kind of freaked out in the beginning," Toad admitted, still watching the door, "but I thought the killer was...well, finished with their job, you know? When two days passed without Luigi killing another person, I thought everyone would be in the clear. But now, I guess I at least know who to avoid." Mario felt it necessary to correct Toad about his Luigi comment, but allowed him to continue regardless. "But did you see what the second guy did? And to a completely random person too! No one on this train is safe..."

"You think this last death was a random killing?" Mario asked, failing to see the logic in Toad's argument. Why did he think it was random, and who would go off and just kill random targets anyway?

"It has to have been! ...I mean, no one on this train even knew who that Popple guy was," Toad reasoned, his voice sounding more desperate after he finally focused his attention on Mario. Mario was beginning to feel that Toad really was scared for his life.

"Some people on this train did know him," Mario began in an attempt to prove Toad wrong. "For instance, Waluigi. And Luigi and I met him when we went to the Beanbean Kingdom."

"Well, okay...but you were the only three who actually knew him," Toad countered, sticking by his fear. He seemed to calm down just a little bit as he bowed his head and went through the names Mario just gave him, really thinking about what could have happened. "And he and Waluigi were friends, so I really don't see why Waluigi would have done it. And we know Luigi couldn't have killed him because he faints at the sight of blood. So that just leaves..." Toad trailed off into silence as he got to the last name, and he slowly returned his gaze back to Mario, his eyes suddenly stricken with fear. Mario caught on to Toad's thought process immediately and quickly raised his hands defensively.

"Toad, don't start jumping to conclusions-"

Obviously reacting poorly to Mario's sudden hand movement, Toad immediately jumped up onto the cushions of the couch and ran to the far end of the room, where his dresser rested. "N-No! Stay away from me! I won't let you make me your next victim!" he shouted hysterically as he opened up his sock drawer and began chucking balled pairs of footwear at his assailant.

"Toad, calm-" Mario paused as he ducked out of the way of a flying pair of socks homing in on his mustache, "Calm down! I'm not-" As he regained his posture after the duck, he didn't realize a second pair of socks were zooming right towards his face. The socks successfully struck him mid-sentence and got caught in his mouth. Mario feel silent spat the striped argyles onto the floor and began disgustedly picking out pieces of fuzz from his tongue.

"I can't believe this Mario!" Toad shouted, continuing to toss more and more socks with his eyes closed in fear, thus resulting in them flying all over the room at complete random. "Of all the people I thought I could trust, you were number one! But now you've gone and done something like _this_-"

Toad suddenly cut himself short upon the discovery that he had no more socks to use as projectiles. His eyes shot open as he felt around the drawer desperately before peering into it to take a look for himself. He was out of ammo.

"I'm not a killer Toad," Mario said firmly after picking all the fuzz from his mouth and before Toad could properly resume freaking out on him. "I may not have liked Popple very much, but I would never kill him, or anybody for that matter."

"Then why are you in here!" Toad shouted, still sounding more frightened than anything. "What do you want from me!"

Wordlessly, Mario pulled out the letter from Saint Herald Hospital and held it out to Toad. It looked like any ordinary piece of folded paper though, so Toad was left to wonder Mario was extending it to him. Fortunately, it seemed to calm him down quite a bit, for he simply looked at the paper for a moment before slowly reaching out and accepting it from Mario's hand. After unfolding the paper and giving it a quick glance, Toad visibly froze on the spot. Not a single part of his body moved an inch, and his stare at the paper was tense. Slowly, after several seconds of awe and utter silence, Toad finally spoke up with a very quiet voice.

"How... Why do you have this?" he asked, his eyes glued to the letter. Mario hesitated for a moment before answering.

"I found it," he responded simply, not wanting to admit that he'd been previously sneaking around Toad's room for evidence. "But I wanted to talk to you about this. What happened? Why couldn't you pay the medical bills?"

Toad slowly lowered the letter from his face and looked right into Mario's eyes, staring at him deeply. Mario suddenly felt a huge surge of guilt course through his stomach as he noticed, even through the darkness of the room, that Toad's eyes were filling with tears. Toad himself didn't know what he should have been feeling at that moment; anger because someone he trusted had to have been digging in his personal space to find the letter in the first place, remorse for having gone so many months without ever telling anybody about what happened, or misery because he was just reminded once again of that horrible, heartless letter that changed his life forever. No matter which he felt he should be feeling at that moment though, it was obvious that all three emotions were grabbing at him at once, dealing with each other just fine as they worked together to dive Toad's heart into the pits of woe that had been ever-present since Toadette's death.

Eventually, after what felt like an excruciatingly long moment of silence to Mario, Toad finally sat himself down on the couch, closed his eyes tightly for a second to let the welled up tears stream down his cheeks freely, and began to gives his answer with an emotionally choked voice.

"It started out as just a...a little drive through the city," he said. Mario quietly moved from his spot and took a seat next to him. "I remember it being a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Except for one, but it was smiling right at us until it disappeared out of sight," he mentioned, an odd, melancholic smile occupying his face as he remembered the serenity of the day fondly. "...We were coming back from the theater, and we were talking the movie we just saw on the ride home. I forgot what the actual movie was. And I don't really remember much of the movie itself, except for a few little things that I can't really put together. Like the smell of the buttered popcorn. It wasn't ours though; we didn't buy anything to eat. That smell made me pretty hungry though. And I remember her clinging onto me during a scary part of the movie, though she giggled a little when I tried to comfort her. I think she was just pretending to be scared..." He said the last sentence with a light, hollow chuckle before quickly falling back to a more serious, deadpan voice than the one he'd been using previously. "Then I remember how she screamed moments before we crashed... I woke up a little while after to find that my car was in crumpled heap on the side of the road, and I was being carried off on a gurney... After I saw that, I remember passing out again. I just couldn't stay awake anymore...

"Then, before I knew it, I was waking up in the hospital, unable to remember anything that just happened. I still can't remember much to this day, but the memories are starting to come back a little. When I was laying in that bed though, I had no clue what was going on. All I knew at the moment was that a Toad girl was sitting by my bedside. And I remember thinking for a second that she was pretty cute. She seemed to be really happy that I'd woken up."

"A Toad girl that you thought was cute?" Mario asked, confused about the description since Toad was still with Toadette at that point. Why would he even think for a moment about the looks of some other girl, especially after what just happened?

"She turned out to be the waitress that works on this train," Toad explained, gazing in Mario's direction for the first time since he began his story, though not looking directly at Mario himself. "I guess that, at that moment, I just thought she was cute. I didn't know what was going on after all, or why I was where I was. Toadette wasn't even on my mind when I first woke up, as horrible as that might sound... I felt like I was just waking up from a regular night's sleep, but very sore and not really able to move much.

"Anyway, she told me that she was the one who called the paramedics to the crash site," he continued, looking back at the letter blankly as he spoke, not really observing it, but allowing his eyes to rest on something as time passed. "The people who T-boned us managed to drive away from the site of the collision before the authorities could arrive. They were a couple of Piantas from what the waitress said she remembered.

"She kept me company in the hospital every day while I recovered from the accident. I suffered some broken bones and a minor concussion from the collision, but I was the lucky one... Toadette fell into a coma from the head injuries she'd sustained; the doctors weren't sure if she would recover from the coma, or if she would be brain damaged upon her awakening. They kept her in a separate room in the hospital, so I could only hear about how she was doing through my new friend."

"The waitress?" Mario asked fo clarification. Toad nodded.

"Yeah," he responded before taking a brief moment to ponder. In a thoughtful manner, he added, "Honestly, I don't think I could ever repay her for everything she's done for me. She's been an incredible help since that accident...

"After a while – probably a few weeks or maybe a couple months, I really can't remember how long it took – I was finally able to travel on my own," Toad continued. "With the help of crutches anyway. But I was still able to move at least. The first thing I did was hurry over to Toadette's room. The nurse looking over her was pretty apprehensive about letting me see her, mainly for my sake, but I promised her that I wouldn't go hysterical or anything if she let me see Toadette. So, she let me in and...I had to do everything I could to not break down and start crying right there. She just looked so...so broken Mario. There were all kinds of tubes hooked up to her, and several parts of her body were wrapped in gauze... I could hardly stand to look at her in that condition. I didn't want to believe that what I was seeing was real. I even stood there in the room doing nothing for a while, waiting for myself to wake up from some horrible dream...but that never actually happened...

"There was one seat next to her bed. I took it and, not really knowing what I could or should do, I just took her nearest hand into mine. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to touch her at all, but I just have to feel _something_ to let me know that it was real. And that she was still alive. I could feel her heartbeat from her wrist, and that let me know she was still functioning at least. And, for a second, I started to hope... You know how a coma patient's heartbeat suddenly speeds up and they wake up a little bit after their loved one touches their hand in the movies?"

"Yeah?" Mario replied, becoming engrossed in Toad's story.

"I hoped _so_ much that, for once, what we saw in the movies could happen in real life. But it never did... Toadette never opened her eyes for me..." Toad admitted slowly. "She couldn't tell I was there, Mario. She was unconscious, and completely unable to feel, or see, or hear, or do anything at all. She couldn't even hope that she'd get better. All she could do was lay there and let time pass her by as her life was left in the hands of the doctors around her. I knew she would never be the same after she woke up. She would lose her motor skills, or her brain functionality, or probably even both... She wasn't going to be the same girl I knew and fell in love with...

"But I didn't care. Even if she woke up and had no idea who I was or didn't have any memory of what we had together, I was going to see her wake up from that coma. But, of course, to do that, I needed money to ensure that she could at least stay alive long enough to make sure she had a chance of waking up. I needed a lot of money. And I didn't have a penny to my name at the time, since my entire life savings, and then some, were drained by my own medical bills...

"So I needed to get a job, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would. In this economy, you'd need to be able to perform open heart surgery with a ball point pen if you even want a chance at getting a job. I just couldn't convince a single employer that I would be the man for the job, and I was starting to fall behind on my payments before I could even make my first installment. I went for weeks struggling to get a job before my new friend came to me with the best news I'd heard in a long time.

"Don Pianta was looking for workers for his new casino. At first, I wasn't exactly sure if hearing that was good news; Don Pianta was a well-known crime lord in Rogueport for a long time after all. Even though he'd quit the business, working for somebody with that kind of history wasn't really my prime prospect for a job. The waitress insisted that it was a great opportunity for me though, since I easily had more job skills than half the folks in Rogueport. Plus, she told me that she already had a job where I'd be working at, and we'd be working alongside each other. It was nice knowing that I'd be familiar with at least one other person on the staff. It would have made settling into it a lot easier. So I spent the last of my money on boat fare to bring me to Rogueport, and I managed to arrive on the last day that applications were still being accepted.

"Don Pianta wasn't really easy to convince; partially because his history as a mob boss kind of intimidated me. Halfway through the interview, I felt like he could tell I was way too nervous, and he wasn't really impressed with what I was telling him. The whole time, I was trying my best to keep my cool and act professional and everything, but everything suddenly seemed to just hit me all at once. Not getting that job would have meant that I blew my last shot at saving Toadette. Not getting that job would have meant that she would die, and that I would never be able to see her again because I was stuck on the other side of the sea with no money and no way of getting back to her. The fact that it was _Rogueport_ of all places that I'd be stranded at really didn't help either. Once all of that hit me...I just completely lost it right in front of him. I broke down into tears and started whimpering and everything. It was really pathetic now that I think about it, but I just couldn't sit there and keep a straight face knowing that Toadette's life relied on me getting that job.

"My sudden display disgusted Don Pianta at first, but, surprisingly, he actually asked me what was wrong. I never thought Don Pianta, a _mob boss, _would ever care about why anyone was upset, but I went ahead and told him all about everything that happened. He never seemed to stop paying attention at all, and never interrupted me or anything. And once I was done, he just kinda sat there and kept looking at me without saying a word. He looked like he was thinking about something, though I didn't know what. After a few seconds though, he finally spoke. And I still remember everything he told me as if he'd said it yesterday:

"_'Ya know kid, ya reminds me of dis guy I know. Dis guy, he started out wit nuttin'. Zilch. Zippo. 'Is chances of makin' far in da world was next ta none. But dis guy, he had a fire in him. He knew dat sittin' around an' mopin' wasn't gonna fix a thing. So he shaped up, and he joined my mafia. Now, dis guy wasn't no supastar gangsta; he blew just about every stinkin' assignment I gave him. Dis one time, I tells him to give dis chump a pair of da old 'cement shoes', and whadda dis guy do? 'E confused a bag of C-MIX cement with a bag of C-MIX cake mix! I kid you not. Da chump he was supposed ta take out swims away, no problem! My guy was da laughin' stock o' da whole mafia for dat one! But he didn't let dat get 'im down._

"_'I thought about cuttin' da guy, but I knew he was tryin' his best, and dat he meant well, so I gives him one last chance. If he screwed up afta dat, he was gone. But I also told him dat I was only givin' him dat chance 'cause I knew he had da potential to be somethin' great someday if he just applied himself a little more. Well, I couldn't tell ya how he managed it, but he seemed ta take my advice ta heart; he shot up through da ranks and became a A-list memba in no time flat. Soon enough, he became da top dog, right undaneath me. All da respect he was commandin' musta got him cocky dough; I turn my back on da guy for a minute and he goes runnin' off wit my daughta! I'm absolutely enraged by dis; no man comes __**near**__ my daughta witout my consent, and here he goes tryin' ta whisk her off to some island right unda my nose! I sent out my best guys to look for dis scumbag, and one of 'em manages to get dem ta come back ta me. I'm all nice an' ready to go bonkers on dis fool for tryin' ta take my daughta away, but I had no idea how much she had da hots for dis guy; before I could even begin, she suddenly steps up and demands she take da blame for da whole deal! And right when I'm about ta tell her to butt out, dis guy who tried ta take her away steps forward too and tells me dat he should take da heat for what happened. I was stunned – speechless ya might say – as I stood dere and watched the two of dem start arguin' ova who should take da blame. It moved me, seeing how much dis guy truly loved my daughta as much as I did._

"_'What I'm tryin' ta say, kid, is dat I sees da same fire in you dat I saw in da guy my little story. And if youse really, truly love dis girl...what was her name? Toadette? Well, if youse is gonna come all the way out to Rogueport just for 'er, den you can bet on ya life dat I'm gonna help ya in any ways I can. Howeva, all da positions have been filled already...except bartenda. Nobody's been lookin' ta take dat job. So if you want it, it's yours.'"_

"So that's how you became a Bartender?" Mario asked after a few seconds. He was admittedly impressed that Toad could remember Don Pianta's speech so vividly, and even speak in a similar fashion as the Don. The event must have truly affected him if he could remember it so easily.

"Yeah, and I was really happy about it for awhile," Toad answered with a sigh. Mario raised a confused eyebrow. "But then I found out why no one wanted the job: the pay was really low, even by Rogueport's standards. There was no way I could keep up with the bills on the pay I was getting from the job; it barely covered my living needs, let alone the cost for the medical utilities... Soon, I had to start skipping entire meals just so I had enough money to make any headway on paying for Toadette's bills. It got to the point where the waitress would sneak me scraps off of dinner plates if my situation was becoming really desperate. It even crossed my mind a few times to try to gamble my way to paying for Toadette's medical bills, but I knew the odds were severely against anyone trying to profit from a day at the casinos, except Don Pianta himself...

"So this went on for a while, and after about six or so weeks of work, I was able to pay for one month of Toadette's medical bill, which was due two months ago... The hospital said that they couldn't deny her service just because of limited financial resources, but they weren't obligated to keep her alive in case someone else needed her equipment, the hospital had no other machines, and the person in need could provide money on a timely basis. This was a relief to me since someone needing intensive care like Toadette is typically pretty rare, but I was always worried that an emergency would suddenly occur, and Toadette wouldn't recover in time. But as long as there was a slight possibility of her surviving her coma, I was going to work myself to the bone to keep her alive.

"...And it was about four months into the job that it happened," Toad muttered quietly, a sudden welling of emotion slightly drowning his words as he turned away from Mario for a moment to dry his watery eyes. He took a moment or two to regain himself before continuing. "An...An outbreak of the Koopiflu hit the kingdom and people were coming the hospitals like crazy. I was three months behind on the bills by then, and the hospital needed to care for everyone who could afford to pay for their expenses... So...when the demand for medical supplies exceeded their supply...they were forced to..."

Toad had grown near incomprehensible by then, his words being choked down as still more tears presented themselves. Mario, in an attempt to calm his hurting friend, wrapped a comforting arm around him and patted him on his shoulder as Toad used his shirt as a cloth to wipe away the tears. Once Toad managed to calm himself a fair amount, he retreated from Mario, a look of slight embarrassment emblazoned across his face. He'd been trying to stay strong and hide his true feelings ever since that letter arrived for him in the mail, but he couldn't down it any longer. And as Toad realized that, somehow, he actually felt a little better after telling Mario all the details about what happened, Mario himself decided it was time to ask the question that had been burning in his mind the entire time.

"Toad, why didn't you ask for help?" he spoke up. "You know I would have helped you if you needed money. I wouldn't have given it a second though."

"Well...I didn't know that," Toad responded weakly, knowing that such a poor answer wouldn't suffice. "...I don't Mario, I don't know. I just, I felt like this was something I had to do on my own, since it was my fault she was in the crash in the first place. And she was my girlfriend. I felt that, if I couldn't protect her by myself...then..." He quickly closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame, pressing the palms of his hands against his forehead as he spoke through frightened sobs. "I don't know Mario. I was just so scared. I didn't know what to do. And I thought I could save her on my own but...I couldn't. I just couldn't."

Mario was trying his best not to let his own emotions get the best of him now. He felt he could relate to Toad, feeling the need to save someone close to him by himself. He couldn't allow himself to falter though. If anything, he had to be strong at that moment for Toad's sake. Thus, Mario placed a friendly hand on Toad's back and said, "I know it's too late now, but Toad, I want you to know that you're never alone. You've always got us. Me, Luigi, Peach, everyone. We're all here if you ever need help."

Toad sniffled and wiped his face clean once again, but he didn't look at Mario. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry Mario, but could I just be alone for awhile?"

"Sure thing," Mario answered with a nod before standing back up. He made his way over to the door, unlocked it, opened it, and exited, closing the door behind him immediately afterward. He felt the urge to chance a glance back at Toad before leaving, but figured it would likely be better to simply leave him alone as soon as possible.

Mario took a moment to reflect on everything he just heard. It was certainly heartbreaking to listen to Toad's story, but what did it mean to Mario's case in discovering who killed Don Pianta? For one, it certainly wiped out Toad's only alibi; Toadette was already gone, so he'd no longer been working for her sake for some time. But the story certainly did not provide any motivation behind why Toad would do it. If anything, Toad was very grateful for his job, so why would he kill his boss? Though, one could argue he was frustrated and upset over his girlfriend's death, and he blamed his boss for the subpar pay, but something like that seemed a little extreme by Toad's standards, or by anyone's standards for that matter. But the absence of an alibi couldn't just be ignored.

Before long, Mario found himself back in the restaurant. Without even realizing it, he'd begun to wander off, but once he regained his senses, he looked around at the place rather slowly. He'd been going through that restaurant several times over the course of that day alone, and so many things took place there. It reminded him of the first time he'd ever ridden that train. The restaurant felt like the central hub of it all-

_**Click-click-click-clank.**_

Mario could hear what sounded like metal beating against glass. He looked around a bit and spotted Wario sitting a short distance away. The obese man appeared to be bored as he twirled around an empty glass that contained a spoon sticking out of it. He was making a little racket from his table near the kitchen.

"Would you stop that?" Mario asked, wanting to focus on his thoughts and just enjoy a little quiet for a minute. "You're distracting me."

Wario suddenly stopped and looked over at Mario with a raised eyebrow. It was quite evident that he was unaware anyone else was even in the restaurant; aside from Shimi, Wario was previously the only person there. Once he realized that it was Mario who was there though, Wario shed a smug smile and began clanking the spoon around the glass again, keeping his laughing eyes glued on Mario to see his reaction. Mario glared at him before giving an annoyed grumble. When Wario continued, Mario turned around and planned to head for his room.

"Oh, sorry little Mr. Detective," Wario scoffed, putting the glass down with a careless slam. Shimi suddenly back out of the kitchen and glared at him now. "Was I breakin' you concentration?" Mario ignored the sarcasm and continued for the door. Once Mario was halfway to his destination, Wario spoke up again. "Well, you ain't the only guy on this train that can snoop around," he commented matter-of-factly. Mario hesitated and came to a stop before turning back around to face Wario.

"And what do you mean by that?" he asked. Since Wario was sitting so his back was to Mario, he turned in his seat so he was leaning against the wall and clasped his hands behind his back, appearing to relax as he snickered.

"Do I have to spell it out for ya, bub? I've got a bit of primo information for ya...if the price is right that is. You know, a little 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' deal."

"Sure," Mario replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I'll keep that in mind." With that, he turned back around and headed for the door once more. He reached out for the door's handle and, just as he clasped it, Wario seized his attention once more.

"It's about the waitress," Wario stated slyly.

Mario froze on the spot. Something about the waitress...? He'd been looking for some dirt on her all day. If Wario was telling the truth, he couldn't just pass up the opportunity to find something out. Though, honestly, how much could he trust _Wario_? He wasn't exactly known for telling the truth... Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's this 'primo info' you've got for me?" Mario asked as he returned to Wario's table and took a seat across from him. Wario turned in his seat to face him, but soon folded his arms and tilted his head to the side, pretending to think deeply as he raised an eyebrow and looked at the ceiling.

"Gee pal, I seem ta be havin' a _really_ tough time rememberin' exactly what happened," he said with an incredibly fake voice. Mario glared at him. "If only I had a little _somethin'_," he suddenly and blatantly dropped his head and stared at his empty glass, "to..._jog_ my memory a little bit."

Mario continued to simply stare at him as he continued his needless theatrics.

"And hey, wouldn'tcha know, another one of _these _would be perfect for refreshin' the ol' noodle." He took up the glass and clanked the spoon around a little more before obtaining a hugely fake look of depression as he seemed to remember something. "But, gosh darn it wouldn'tcha know? I'm plum outta moolah!" He slammed the glass down again and slumped over, looking defeated. Once again, Shimi backed out of the kitchen and glared at him. "Oh, whatever shall I do, Mistah Detective! Whatever shall I _do!_" For his grand finale, he reared back his head and rested the back of his hand on his forehead, appearing highly distressed as he began to fake weep. "Boo-hoo! _OH, Boo-HOO!"_

Mario had no words as he stared at Wario, bemused.

"Are you done?" Mario asked after a few seconds of Wario's pretend weeping. In response, Wario took his free hand and gave the glass a small push toward Mario. The plumber gave an exasperated sigh before hailing Shimi. The chef hopped over and Mario turned to him. "Can you whip up another one of whatever this was?" he asked, indicating Wario's glass resting on the table. Shimi nodded wordlessly before hopping back over to the kitchen. Once the chef was gone, Mario redirected his attention back to Wario, who was now sitting normally, his signature mischievous grin resting on his face. "What were you eating anyway?"

"A fruit parfait," Wario answered cheerily, chuckling a little as he delighted in the knowledge that he would be having a second serving soon. "Freakin' delicious stuff."

Mario simply stared at Wario for a moment, taken aback by the answer. "...Did you just say you ordered a _fruit_ parfait?"

"Yeah. What of it?" Wario responded defensively, ready and waiting for Mario to make some kind of crack about him liking a more delicate style of dessert. Mario sat back in his seat and looked off somewhere innocently though, twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought something like a **garlic** parfait would have been more your taste." Wario chuckled a bit.

"You know, I actually tried asking Chef Shumi-"

"Shimi," Mario corrected, though he was ignored.

"-over there ta whip one-a those up, but he just gagged at me. Guy's got no taste," Wario criticized, crossing his arms. Once Shimi returned with a fresh parfait though, he quickly perked up and accepted his dessert heartily. Mario then noticed something quite odd: why wasn't the waitress delivering the food? Wasn't that her job? Once he looked around again though, he noticed that she wasn't even there. He, Wario, and Shimi were the only three people in the entirety of the restaurant. Which was probably just as well, since the waitress probably would have exploded if she'd heard that Wario had some information against her. Exploded in the figurative sense of course. That would certainly be an odd occurrence if she actually did spontaneously combust. Where was she anyway-

"AHEM," Chef Shimi cleared his throat loudly, holding a fin to Mario's face, snapping him out of his thoughts. As Mario contemplated the waitress's absence, he didn't notice that Wario had signaled to the chef that Mario would be paying for the meal. After regaining his bearings, Mario asked how much the dessert cost, frowned at the answer, and gave the chef ten coins. Which was eight too many as far as he was concerned. Shimi hopped away shortly thereafter.

"Alright, you got what you wanted, so spill it," Mario demanded, turning back to Wario. He was surprised to discover the parfait was already a quarter finished. ...Though, okay, this was Wario he was dealing with. Of course the treat wasn't going to last long.

"Okay," Wario mumbled through a mouthful of parfait before gulping it down and continuing, "so, you remember the night of the murder, right?"

"How could I forget?" Mario asked rhetorically. Something like seeing an old acquaintance laying dead in his room is a pretty easy thing to remember. It's even easier when your own brother is being convicted as the guy's killer.

"Well, while you and that Bumpty guy, Pensworth or whatever-"

"Pennington."

"-were putting on your little detective show, I was hanging out at the back of the crowd, lookin' around and stuff. Eventually, I saw that little waitress chick coming down the hallway of Car Seven, and she was snoopin' all over the place."

"Snooping?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, bargin' into people's rooms and stuff," Wario clarified. "She went in and out of every room all the way down the hallway before she noticed I was there. She stayed in Luigi's room the longest, then came out with this weird, worried look on her face. That's when I called her out."

"Did anyone else notice this was going on?" Mario suddenly asked, hoping that he could confirm this with someone else. Taking Wario's word for something as suspicious as what was being said was probably a very risky move.

"Hah, nope. Everyone else was too wrapped up in your little detective drama to pay attention to what was goin' on right behind them." Wario chuckled before taking a quick break to gulp down another scoop of the parfait. He gave a satisfied sigh as the treat slid down his gullet and rested in his stomach. Mario now stared at the dessert in envy. He was the one who paid for it, and now he had to watch someone else eat it. It felt borderline torturous when he remembered how much he paid for it. "Anyway, she started makin' up excuses all over the place about tryin' ta find someone..."

"'Someone'?" Mario asked, irritated by Wario's vague description. Wario took another bite of his parfait before looking away.

"Ya know, I don't remember who was looking for" he mumbled before looking back at Mario, who was glaring at him yet again. "Nah, I'm serious this time, I really can't remember who she was lookin' for. When she saw me, she just suddenly gave me this fruit parfait she was holdin' to try to distract me. And I guess it worked, 'cause after that I just remember eatin' it, then goin' to bed when curfew was called," he concluded with a shrug. Mario remained quiet for a while, expecting Wario to add something. When the man just continued to eat his parfait (he was already three-quarters of the way through it), Mario sighed, knowing he wasn't going to be getting anymore information out of him. So what dirt did he get for ten coins? That the waitress was darting in and out of rooms looking for someone with a fruit parfait in her hands? That wasn't really ten coins' worth of information. But at least Mario learned just how Wario came to love the dessert so much.

"Why are you sitting here anyway?" Mario asked, remembering how he initially found it strange that Wario was the only person in the restaurant besides Shimi.

"I have an interview or whatever with that Pennington guy," Wario answered, swallowing the remainder of the parfait. "I think I do anyway. Guy's been gone for like, twenty-five minutes by now."

"Huh. Well, I'll try to find him," Mario offered, wondering what could have been holding Pennington up for so long.

At the same time Mario got up to leave, the waitress showed up in the restaurant, entering from Car Three. Mario figured that right then would be a better time than ever to find out exactly what Wario was talking about, or even if his story was even useful at all for that matter. He didn't notice that the waitress had adopted a steely glare as soon as she saw him.

"Hey," Mario greeted casually, "Mind if I-"

"HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH THING!" the waitress exploded. Again, figuratively. Mario was taken aback and stopped in his track, a fair distance from the waitress.

"What?" Mario asked, bewildered, more surprised by the outburst than confused.

"You know, I thought you hero types were like, all about being noble and stuff, but what in the _world_ do you think gives you the right to go through other people's personal property!" the waitress asked, her eyes searing into Mario as he figured out what she was probably getting so upset over.

"...Is this about Toad's letter?"

"Uh, _Duh_!" the waitress shouted immediately, making Mario recoil a little bit. The waitress slammed her hands onto her hips in a huff, making her glare all the more cutting in the meantime. "You think that, just because you're Super Mario, you get to intrude on other people's privacy!"

"No...I was just curious and-"

"OH!" the waitress retorted in mock surprise. "The amazing Super Mario was _curious _about something! Well, God forbid we keep him from finding out something that catches his interest! Who cares if it means that Toad would hole himself up in his room and cry his eyes out! Do you know what horrible memories your stupid curiosity dragged back to the surface! And right when he was starting to finally get over it!"

"HEY! I didn't mean to make him cry, alright!" Mario screamed, getting red in the face himself. It was rare that he actually felt flustered, but the waitress was certainly doing a great job of making him feel absolutely horrible. "It was an accident."

"I'm so sure," the waitress muttered, a fair amount quieter than she'd previously been speaking. She soon shook her head, appearing to be disappointed in Mario. "You know, I thought you'd be better than that, but you're just like almost every other man on this planet." The exception being Toad, Mario figured.

"Well, don't think you're so perfect yourself," Mario responded, gaining back his composure. "You act as if you haven't been doing any snooping of your own since this trip started."

"...Like, what are you talking about?" the waitress asked, appearing to be genuinely confused. And Mario noticed that that was the first time she'd said "like" in quite a while.

"On the night Don Pianta was murdered," Mario hinted. When the waitress didn't catch on to what he was talking about, Mario continued. "Wario over there," he went on, nodding his head to indicate Wario a short distance behind him, who was watching the two of them with a huge, amused grin, "said he saw you sneaking around the train and going into peoples' rooms while everyone was preoccupied with Don Pianta's death. What exactly were you looking for?"

"Okay, you've gotta be like, totally kidding me," the waitress scoffed, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "If you _must_ know, since you apparently need to know like, _everything_, I was looking for a passenger who'd ordered a fruit parfait. The scary Yoshi guy."

"But why look in everyone's room when there was a crowd outside Don Pianta's room? Surely Yoshi would've been in there," Mario quipped. The waitress scoffed again.

"Like, how was I supposed to just magically know where everyone was?" the waitress responded acidically. "Like, I already told you before that I didn't even know about Don Pianta's death until yesterday morning, so when I went back into the casino to give Yoshi his parfait, I had like, no way of knowing where anyone was. So I started to go and look for him. I never even went into the car Don Pianta was staying in at all."

Mario mentally smacked himself in the forehead. That made perfect sense. Even Wario never mentioned anything about the waitress going into Car Eight; he'd made it clear that he found her in Car Seven. And why would she continue to look for Yoshi after already giving up his parfait to Wario anyway? There would be no need to look around anymore after that.

Mario was started to feel that he'd parted with ten coins for nothing.

"Alright...but why look in everyone's room? And why would you linger in Luigi's room the longest?"

"Well, like, I didn't know what room Yoshi was staying in," the waitress answered, "and I don't know if I stayed in Luigi's room the longest or not. If I did, I was just like, double checking to make sure. I mean, green room, green Yoshi. If any room was his, you'd think that'd be it." Mario couldn't exactly agree with that logic, but when he remembered who he was talking to, he figured he'd have to let it slide. "But I couldn't find him, and I needed to get back to the kitchen, like, ASAP," the waitress continued, "so I handed the fruit parfait to the yellow guy and told him who it was supposed to go to. I figured he'd give it to the passenger for me if he saw him." The waitress finished, pointing to Wario. Mario, appearing weary after realizing the waitress had a pretty solid alibi on her hands, looked over at Wario, who merely gave him a toothy grin accompanied by a twiddly-finger wave. Mario simply glared at him.

"So like, it's almost curfew and stuff," the waitress informed, folding her arms. "I need to like, pack up my stuff for when we arrive in Poshley Heights in the morning, so if you're done with this little interrogation of yours..." the waitress said, clearly still upset with Mario. The man let out a sigh, admitting defeat.

"Yeah. Go ahead," he muttered, feeling foolish after the explanation he just heard. The waitress gave a short "hmph" as she passed by and exited the restaurant into the empty casino. Mario now turned back to Wario staring at him coldly. "Hey Wario, your 'primo info' wasn't exactly helpful you know. Or entirely truthful for that matter."

"Buyer beware," Wario muttered with a shrug, not appearing to care as he sat back into his seat comfortable and began clinking his spoon around his now-empty glass.

Mario sighed once more before noticing that it was quite dark outside. The waitress _did _just mention that curfew was coming up. The day seemed to just fly by though. As if to remind Mario of what he just realized, the train's conductor was heard over the PA system letting the passengers know that lights would be out in just fifteen minutes. And that meant only fifteen minutes remained for Mario to make the final case in his brother's defense; the case that would ensure his brother remained a free man. Mario almost felt as if he was no closer to finding the true killer than he was on the night of the murder. Sure, he had his suspects, but nothing one hundred percent conclusive came up about any of them. And if he couldn't find out who the real killer was, then Luigi was going to be carted off to jail as an innocent man. What could Mario possibly do in the next fifteen minutes that would get his brother off the hook? He had several whole days of sleuthing to prove his brother was innocent, and he'd failed to discovered the truth behind it all. It almost felt entirely hopeless at that point...

"Mario... My friend... My buddy... Compadre... Amigo..."

What?

Snapping back to his senses, Mario realized he'd left the restaurant and was sulking through Car Three when Yoshi approached him from across the car, hunched over and clutching his stomach as he moved about with a dramatic limp.

"I'm dying Mario... This is it... This is my final chapter... This is the place where I, too, will succumb to the cold, harsh embrace of death... Starvation was the killer in this heinous crime... Mario, my lifelong friend...tell my wife...I love her."

With that, Yoshi did a single, overly dramatic spin, placed the back of his hand on his forehead, and fell into Mario's arms. His tongue lolled out slightly as his breathing slowed to a halt, but Mario could still feel his pulse. He rolled his eyes.

"You don't have a wife, Yoshi," Mario said flatly.

"Then tell my mom," Yoshi responded briefly, following up with a fake, weak coughing fit.

"Stop being silly, Yoshi," Mario said, dropping Yoshi unceremoniously before crossed his arms. From the floor, Yoshi barely cracked open his eyes and began to slowly reach skyward.

"I see...a light. It's...It's so beautiful." A single tear ran down Yoshi's cheek. "Grandma...? Is that you? ...I'm coming Grandma... We'll be together again soon..."

"Come on Yoshi, you just have to wait one more night," Mario reminded. "Then we'll arrive at Poshley Heights and you can eat all the food you want."

"No... I'm not gonna make it Mario... I can feel my stomach digesting itself right now... This is the end!"

Mario let out a sigh. "You just need to get your mind off of food." He glanced over at the door across from him, remembering that it was Popple's room. Didn't Pennington go in there a while ago? "Why don't you help me find Pennington?"

"Why?" Yoshi asked with a dry wheeze, determined that he was going to die.

"He hasn't annoyed me in a while. I think something might have happened to him," Mario answered, forcing a chuckle in an attempt to lighten Yoshi's mood, as well as his own. Yoshi, however, didn't bother to move an inch. "Wherever he is, I bet he has food," Mario added enticingly, though even he doubted Pennington would just be carrying around snacks with him. Then again, who knew what was in his tote bag anyway?

The idea of obtainable food got Yoshi motivated immediately, causing him to jump up from his position on the floor and begin sniffing the air for the scent of Pennington's signature scent of leather-bound books and cheese puffs. He quickly scampered up and down the length of the hallway, his nose high in the air as it led him all about. After a short while of frantic running, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and slammed his snout to the floor, appearing quite focused. He then scooted his nose across the carpet at lightning-fast speed until he stood in front of Popple's room, where he jolted to a halt. He then turned to the door and pointed at it with his rug-burned nose, similar to how a hunting dog would point out its prey. Mario raised an eyebrow as he stepped over to the door.

"Popple's room? I saw him go in there a while ago, but I thought he'd have been out by now..." Mario commented as he reached for the handle and slid the door open. The air had become quite thick with the smell of Popple's rancid blood, causing both Mario and Yoshi to turn their heads in disgust, waving away the horrible odor. After some coughing, they eventually became mildly used to the stench and returned their attention to the room itself. They didn't quite expect to see what would be displayed before them.

Pennington laid there face up in a puddle of blood, his tote bag and magnifying glass lying at opposite ends of the room. Mario could feel himself shaking, shocked by the scene, but Yoshi seemed unmoved by the motionless Pennington and instead focused on the tote bag that rested at the far end of the room. Mario was shocked by the scene, but Yoshi was distracted by what laid at the far end of the room.

"Aha! His bag! Something's gotta be in there!" Yoshi yelled, pointing at the opened bag that laid drenched in blood. Undeterred by the horrific stains all over the bag, Yoshi darted across the room and quickly began to empty it of its contents eagerly, throwing aside various articles as he searched for food.

Meanwhile, Mario was too stunned by what he was seeing. Pennington appeared to be knocked out cold, if not dead himself. Suddenly, Mario's stomach seemed to turn upside down as his anxiety soared to new heights. What if Pennington really was dead? Sure, he got on Mario's nerves to no end, but he just never expected the Bumpty to meet such an end-

"HAHA! YES! _YES!_" Yoshi shouted victoriously, still blissfully uncaring of the scene around him. He'd found something in the bag, and he soon jutted the hand which held the item into the air victoriously. "FOOD! Finally, at long last, something to ease my intense pangs of hunger and looming death!" Happily, he lowered the item he was holding back to eye level and look at it giddily. Soon, however, his bright smile slowly turned upside down, drooping into a frown as he learned just what the food was. "No...no... This...this can't be happening... Why! _Why! Oh God in Heaven why must you torment me so!_"

Yoshi limply dropped the small box that he'd recovered from the bag and began to weep tears of eternal sadness and woe. Mario took a small step forward (not wanting to get his boots stained with the blood) and focused his eyes to read what the box said.

"What's wrong with raisins?" he asked after successfully scanning the text on the container.

"Raisins are only a MOCKERY OF WHAT FRUIT IS ALL ABOUT!" Yoshi responded with a passionate hatred, eyeing the box evilly as if it had done something to him personally. "_Real_ fruit is supposed to be succulent, and juicy, and filling..." Mario could see him salivating at the mere thought of his own description. "But _raisins_... With their wrinkliness and their dryness and their..._stupidness_. Raisins are just grapes with the JOY SUCKED OUT OF THEM!"

"Who's bad-mouthing my raisins...?" a voice slurred. While Yoshi preferred to continue crying over the promise of food being snatched away from him yet again, Mario instantly returned his attention to Pennington, who was stirring from his position in the puddle of blood. Mario let out a quiet sigh.

"So you're okay after all. What happened to you?" Mario asked, though he realized just then that there was something else that was off about the scene. A certain other person seemed to be missing. "And where's Popple?"

"Who...?" Pennington mumbled, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted themselves to the rush of light. He looked around for himself now, apparently dazed and quite confused about the situation. "Oh. You mean the murder victim? Uh... I don't know where he went..." Mario folded his arms and raised an eyebrow in response. How could he have just not known where a dead body disappeared to?

"Okay. How about we just focused on what happened to you then?" Mario offered. Pennington looked over at him, confused.

"Um... I...don't know?" he responded, sounding genuinely unsure about what happened that caused him to become unconscious. Mario pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Well, that's just fantastic Pennington," Mario muttered before lowering his hand and scanning the room. "So you've somehow managed to lose the murder victim, and you forgot how you were knocked out. Real top notch detective work right there."

"Well, someone's a little sassy! I'd like to see you do better!" Pennington demanded as he began to get to his feet, balancing himself upright in the pool of blood. He seemed blissfully unaware that he was fairly covered in dry, red stains. He soon placed a red flipper under his bill as he began to think, and something appeared to click in his brain. "Oh wait. My severe head trauma has reminded me, I believe I do remember something."

"What?" Mario asked.

"A severe amount of pain, my dear apprentice," Pennington answered, quite nonchalantly. "Shortly after I entered and began to check the scene, I heard a squeal of sorts emanate from behind me, shortly followed by a sharp, intense pain, a blow perhaps, that connected squarely with the back of my possibly fractured skull. I then blacked out."

"You were da one squealing like a little girl da entire time I was beating you, see," a voice with a rough, slightly nasally Brooklyn accent clarified from the doorway, shortly before giving a sniffle. Surprised, Mario spun around to see who was talking and nearly jumped when he saw who it was that just spoke.

"P-Popple!" Mario stuttered, unable to believe his eyes at the sight of the fully-alive Beanish thief. Pennington, meanwhile, went from blue to white in an instant, and Yoshi continued to remain oblivious to the entire situation, determined to find _something_ edible in Pennington's tote bag. "Shouldn't you be...um, you know..._dead_?"

"What? No, idiot," Popple spat before sniffling again, appearing to be a little confused by the situation himself. "But dat bow-tied joker over dere, he's the one who should be dead...ah-...ACHOO! after covering me with dat red goop, see." A question mark appeared above Mario's head. What in the world...?

"So, Pennington covered you with...red goop?" Mario asked, scratching his head underneath his cap. Did that mean that all of the red liquid in the room wasn't...

"Why-I did no such thing!" Pennington shouted defensively.

"Oh yeah, sure ya didn't," Popple responded sarcastically, sniffling yet again. "'Cause when I wake up on da floor with my best shirt _ruined _and I see a guy standin' over me, da last thing I oughta assume is that he's...ah-...he-ah-...he's-ACHOO!" he sniffled once again, "da one who pulled all dis."

"Hold on you two," Mario interjected, hoping to get all the facts straight in an orderly fashion. Something like what was going on at that moment certainly called for an explanation. "Popple, what was the last thing you remember before waking up and seeing Pennington?"

"I took some of my cold medicine. Den I felt kinda woozy, so I went to bed," Popple responded briefly, folding his arms.

"And what happened after you woke up?" Mario asked.

"Like I said, I saw that bow-tied doofus standin' over me, starin' at me wid his magnifying glass. I figured he was da one who did dis to me, so I decided I should-ACHOO!" He paused, irritated by his own inability to control his sneezing. "I decided I should let him know how I felt about de situation, and socked 'im one right in the kisser, see," Popple answered, adding a shadow punch to demonstrate his action. He stared right at Pennington as he did so, causing the penguin to recoil a little in response.

"Looks like you went to town on him," Mario commented, looking again at the magnifying glass and tote bag (which Yoshi was now holding upside-down and shaking vigorously) on opposite sides of the room. "Did you put up any sort of fight Pennington," he asked, more out of curiosity than anything. Pennington straightened himself up and fixed his bow tie and hat confidently.

"Please Luigi, don't sell me short. Of course I took action," Pennington responded. "I instinctively employed the much-talked-about Pennington fighting style to defend myself while securing my dignity."

"He curled up into a ball and started begging for his life," Popple clarified.

"With dignity!" Pennington added quickly, pointing at Popple defensively before quickly retracting his arm. He held it tentatively with his free flipper. "I do feel rather bruised at the moment though. Perhaps turning in for the night and allowing my body to rest would be for the best." With that, Pennington stumbled out of the room, his almost nonexistent legs apparently sore as well. He didn't even bother to gather his belongings that were currently strewn all about the room. Mario figured he may as well do the guy a favor and take Pennington's things back to him after he was finished speaking with Popple.

"This doesn't make any sense at all," Mario commented as he turned to Popple, who, now that he actually got a good look at him, Mario discovered had some pretty large bags underneath his eyes and had a general air of sickliness about him. Being woken up in such a fashion while being sick at the same time must not have done much for the guy's mood. Mario figured it would probably be best if he left Popple alone soon, but only after one more question. "Popple, why were you knocked out? Did somebody hit you, or did you just take too many pills or something?"

"It was probably da pills," Popple said, recalling how he didn't feel very well after taking his latest dose of the medicine. "Waluigi kept houndin' me to take my medication, even dough I was always pretty sure I'd already taken some. I kept takin' more dough, 'cause he kept on suggestin' I do, see." He glanced over at his bottle of ColdKillerX, then at the puddle of fake blood that covered the floor. Really, when he thought about it, that situation much more likely came about because of Waluigi. "Looks like I'll hafta give Waluigi a piece of my mind-ACHOO!...next time I see 'im."

"Give him an extra smack for me then," Mario responded half-jokingly as Popple took a seat on his couch, glaring at the red goop that covered half the room. Just looking at it clearly ticked him off to no end. Knowing that Popple would much rather have some time alone so he could rest, Mario wordlessly began gathering Pennington's belongings. After picking up the magnifying glass, the copy of Twilight, and Pennington's various sleuthing tools, Mario approached Yoshi and stared at him questioningly. "Um, Yoshi...what are you doing?"

The dinosaur was sitting on the floor with Pennington's tote bag draped over his head. He was inhaling furiously before he heard Mario and looked over at him. Or, at least, moved his head so Mario could assume he was looking at him.

"I smell food in this room Mario. I'm going to find it," Yoshi's muffled, determined voice explained.

"Well, it's not in the bag," Mario pointed out as he stepped over and removed the bag from Yoshi's head. As soon as he was free, Yoshi immediately began to twitch his head back and forth, his nose quivering constantly as he scented the air. He soon began to scour the room on all fours, sniffing all over. "What exactly are you smelling?"

Yoshi sniffed a little more before answering."I think I smell...blueberries. And...chocolate chips? ...Yeah, chocolate chips."

"Blueberries and chocolate chips?" Mario parroted, feeling like those items sounded oddly familiar for some reason. Where had he heard those been named off befo-

"_What was in the box?"_

"_The box in question contained... blueberries, chocolate chips..."_

Mario dropped all of Pennington's belongings absently as he seemed to finally realize what was going on. And the more he though about it...that box, the red goop all over the room, what Yoshi was smelling... Everything was more connected than he'd initially thought.

"That box. The one I told you that Chef Shimi was looking for. It's in here somewhere!" Mario proclaimed. Yoshi appeared to not really listen to Mario, and Popple didn't seem to care, but this discovery felt quite immense to Mario himself. Soon, he began helping Yoshi in his search for the box, and, after a rather short time, they located it resting in a rather obvious hiding place: underneath the bunk bed. How in the world did Mario, and pretty much everyone else on the train, miss it earlier? It was sitting right there. But, then again, Popple's body was positioned so it blocked the box perfectly.

Ignoring the red goop, Mario made his way over to the bedside, knelt down, and dragged the box out. Yoshi caught this action out of the side of his eye and scurried over immediately, eagerly waiting for Mario to open the treasure up. And, sure enough, upon inspecting the inside of the box, Mario and Yoshi discovered all of Shimi's missing utensils, ingredients, and the random watermelon that was grouped in with the bunch.

Yoshi squealed with glee as he clasped his hands together and tiny hearts replaced his pupils. Mario couldn't help but laugh as Yoshi grabbed the succulent melon and gave it a loving embrace. Shortly before he tossed it into the air, opened up his gaping mouth, and swallowed the entire melon whole. He smacked his lips satisfactorily before rubbing his stomach and shedding a gleaming smile.

"_Aaaaaahhh~_ Now _that_ hits the spot," he sighed happily. Mario could swear he saw Yoshi becoming a healthier green after eating the melon and couldn't keep back and happy smile, despite the situation. Popple, on the other hand, wasn't so moved.

"Well dat's great for you. Now get out, see," Popple demanded, pointing out the door. Quickly, Mario regathered all of Pennington's things and exited, closely followed by Yoshi, who was dragging along the box. They were soon out in the hallway, and Popple shut the door behind them. Just as he did so, the conductor made another announcement over the PA system.

_"Attention Passengers. Curfew will is in 5 minutes. Please be in your rooms by this time. Thank you."_

Mario and Yoshi quickly made their way to Pennington's broom closet over in Car One, Mario moving with the intent of delivering the penguin's things and Yoshi going along simply to follow him as he scoured the box's possessions. Besides, Chef Shimi stayed in the restaurant until a little after curfew anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be able to get back to his room anyway. It seemed he and Mario had become roommates without either of them ever even bringing the situation up. Regardless, once the pair reached Pennington's closet, Mario dropped off the items, covering the sleeping penguin in books and tools. They then began to head back to the restaurant to return the box before curfew was up, but Yoshi quickly stopped Mario just before they crossed over into the dining car.

"Wait a sec, I haven't seen everything else that's in this box yet," Yoshi said, not exactly having much of a chance to peruse it during the constant walking. "I know we have to give it back and all, but there might be something else to eat. Like those blueberries."

"Well...okay, I guess it couldn't hurt to take a look," Mario seceded, agreeing to stop with Yoshi as the dinosaur happily placed the box on the floor. They both peeked into it like a pair of young children exploring a chest of make believe treasure. "Let's see..." Mario muttered as he sifted through the box's contents. "An empty bottle of corn syrup, and an empty bottle of red food coloring."

"You think that's how Pennington made the red, goopy stuff?" Yoshi asked. Those were Mario's thoughts exactly when he initially figured out that the box was in Popple's room.

"I doubt Pennington was the one who made it, but someone definitely used this stuff to make all that fake blood. And, after what Popple told us about the pills, it sounds like Waluigi was the culprit behind the whole thing. Though I have no idea why in the world he'd do all of this," Mario muttered with a shrug. Yoshi, putting on his thinking cap, rubbed his chin in thought, but eventually shook his head when he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation himself.

"Well, at least we know there's only one actual killer still," Yoshi said, clearly in a much better mood with food in his stomach. Mario had to agree with him, but that didn't make the occurrence any less strange at all.

"So what else is in here...? Oh, here's that container of blueberries!" Mario announced, pulling the box out and shaking the container. Yoshi happily snatched the package away and downed the contents instantly, not feeling even a twang of guilt for taking Chef Shimi's food. Mario couldn't blame him either; the chef practically stole Yoshi's watermelon, even though he did nothing wrong, and forced Yoshi to go hungry most of the day. The guy deserved some free food after all he'd been through.

"Anything else in there?" Yoshi asked, unceremoniously tossing the empty pack of blueberries back into the box before looking in once again. Mario began digging around once again, looking for the chocolate chips that were said to be in the box. No matter how much he searched though, he couldn't seem to find them, and he found himself eventually reaching the very bottom of the box. Once there though, he felt something rather strange; a sort of foreign object resting in the midst of the ingredients and various utensils. His facial expression suddenly shifted into that of confusion as he clasped the object. "What's wrong?" Yoshi asked, taking note of Mario's expression as he pulled the weird object up to the certain. And once he'd exposed it to the light and discovered exactly what the object was, his eyes widened in shock. What he pulled out was something he never expected to find in that box.

In his hand was clasped a green thermometer. Its top was broken off, and its mercury was drained...

* * *

_*Emerges from time machine* WAIT! You are about to make a horrible mistake!_

_Yeah, kind of late to stop that future self..._

_Oh really. Well I guess I'll just hop back in my time machine and go back 5 minutes- *Turns around to see Cascore dismantling Time machine*_

**This machine... must be destroyed!**

_Hey! Did you just trap me in an infinite loop of growing old and then coming back to warn myself of my mistakes only to get stuck in the past and grow old again?_

**... Oh, whoops, sorry about that... And before I forget, a new poll has been put up for Day 3 on who you think murdered Don Pianta. This is your last chance to guess the true mastermind behind his death before the big reveal NEXT CHAPTER!**


End file.
